Thought Leadership
Siemens wants to strengthen its software business with a billion-dollar takeover. The Munich-based company intends to take over the US company Altair Engineering Inc. for around 10 billion US dollars (around 9.2 billion euros), as Siemens announced.
According to an agreement signed by Siemens, Altair shareholders will receive 113 dollars per share.
Altair offers industrial software for companies in the aviation, automotive, energy and financial services sectors. Demand for this is expected to rise with the increasing spread of artificial intelligence (AI) in everyday life.
Siemens CEO Roland Busch spoke of a “significant milestone” for the company. “Altair’s expertise in simulation, high-performance computing, data science and artificial intelligence together with Siemens Xcelerator will create the world’s most comprehensive AI-supported design and simulation portfolio.”
Siemens itself last completed a takeover of a similar magnitude with Dresser-Rand in 2015. At that time for 7.6 billion dollars including debt. However, it was surpassed by the takeover of cancer specialist Varian by Siemens Healthineers for 16.4 billion dollars, which at the time was only a majority shareholding of Siemens after the IPO.
Following the IPO of Healthineers and the spin-off of the energy technology group Siemens Energy, Siemens is increasingly focusing on its digitalization business and divesting peripheral areas. Just a few weeks ago, the Munich-based company completed the sale of Innomotics. Siemens had received around 3.5 billion euros for the business with electric motors and large drives with around 15,000 employees.
The acquisition is expected to be completed in the second half of next year. Altair Engineering has around 3,500 employees.
dpa
