Siemens AG: A Private Equity Approach within an Industrial Corporation?

In July 2022, Horst Kayser, Chairman of Siemens AG Portfolio Companies (POC), was reflecting on the advice he could offer Roland Busch, Chief Executive Officer of the parent company Siemens AG, about whether and how to operate a private equity-like approach inside the large German industrial company. The POC had been established in 2019 to maximize the value of operating units that had struggled to perform as part of the core industrial divisions at Siemens AG. Given freedom to replicate some of the processes and policies of private equity and avoid some corporate constraints, by 2022, €3.6 billion in value had been created by improving the performance of these operating units and preparing them for sale or retention inside the parent.

Kayser wondered whether he should recommend moving additional businesses into the POC to repeat the process, and, if not, what lessons could be applied to the core operating businesses in order to replicate some of the benefits of the POC approach. More generally, was it possible to operate like a private equity organization inside a large, well-established industrial company?