Manufacturers

Investors group may challenge Osram spin off

A German newspaper is reporting that a group of investors plan to challenge industrial conglomerate Siemens’ move to spin off its lighting division Osram. The newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung did not say where it obtained the information.

Nine unidentified investors plan to file a lawsuit which could lead to a delay in the planned listing of Osram, because the division cannot become registered while the lawsuit is ongoing, the paper said.

The nine investors plan to argue that Siemens did not conduct the shareholder meeting properly because of acoustics problems, as Chief Financial Officer Joe Kaeser partly spoke in an inaudible manner, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

Siemens was not immediately available to comment, according to the Reuters News Agency.

Osram generates annual sales of about 5 billion euros and has about 39,000 employees worldwide.

Shareholders agreed at a meeting on January 23 to spin off 80.5% of Osram, which has a book value of 2.3 billion euros ($3 billion). Siemens investors would receive one Osram share for each 10 Siemens shares they hold.

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