FRANKFURT – Siemens AG has replaced the chief financial officer of its Healthineers unit as it prepares to go public next year.
This morning, Siemens announced that Jochen Schmitz, currently the head of accounting for the Siemens Group, will replace Thomas Rathmann on Dec. 1. Rathmann is leaving the Healthineers unit by mutual agreement, the company announced.
Siemens praised Schmitz for the work he has done for the company. In the announcement, the company confirmed the appointment of Schmitz is a “further step toward the public listing of Siemens Healthineers.” The company said it intends to implement the IPO in the first half of 2018. The company is expected to be listed with a value of between $40 and $48 billion.
The appointment of Schmitz follows late October reports of Siemens tapping three banks, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan, to help take the unit public next year.
We’re driving the public listing of Healthineers systematically and with the utmost care. The roadmap is in place and we’re making good progress. With the appointment of Jochen Schmitz, we’re rounding out our extremely experienced management team, which will lead Healthineers into a strong future,” said Michael Sen, chairman of the supervisory board of Siemens Healthineers.
Ralf Thomas, Siemens AG’s chief financial officer, said the international experience Schmitz has in “nearly all areas of our healthcare technology business make him virtually predestined for this role.”
Schmitz has held numerous financial roles with Siemens AG. For two years, 2009 to 2011, he served as CFO of the company’s diagnostics imaging business. Since 2011, Schmitz has headed up Accounting, Reporting and Controlling for the Siemens Group. In this position, he is also responsible for preparing financial reports for the capital market, the company said.
Jürgen Wagner, head of financial disclosure and corporate performance controlling, will take over Schmitz’ current duties, the company said.
Medtech company Siemens Healthineers was formerly known as Siemens Healthcare. Siemens Healthineers is the separately managed healthcare business of Siemens AG. Taking the Healthineers business unit public would allow it to make moves to grow the business as is necessary.
By becoming a publicly traded entity, the Healthineers unit will have more power to make fast and necessary moves to grow the business. It will also give the business unit more flexibility to make acquisitions. Some companies that the Healthineers unit could potentially work with in collaboration or as possible acquisition targets include Varian, Agilent and Accuray.
While the company may be planning to go public, the Healthineers unit has been busy expanding in the United States. In July, the Healthineers broke ground on a $300 million expansion in Massachusetts for its laboratory diagnostics manufacturing and research and development facility. The $300 million investment represents one of the single largest investments the company has made in the U.S. The expansion project, which will take approximately four years, will allow Siemens to hire 700 additional people over the next 10 years. The expansion will add an additional 300,000 square feet to the current 500,000 square feet at the Walpole site. The expansion will include manufacturing space, warehouse space, office space and lab space, he said. The new facility is expected to allow the company to meet product challenges, increase efficiency and reduce costs.
