Siemens In Talks To Sell Water Tech. Business

(RTTNews) - Siemens AG (SI) is in talks to sell its water technologies unit to New York-based private equity AEA Investors LP for about $800 million, media reports said Tuesday.

The move comes as the German engineering giant focuses on higher-margin businesses and is resorting to job cuts to control expenses.

The deal to sell the water technologies unit could be clinched by this week, the reports said.

The water technologies unit has products ranging from emergency water supply and conventional water treatment processes to waste-water reuse. The unit was among four businesses that Siemens put on the block last year.

Siemens has been striving to rejuvenate itself. In August, the company named finance head Joe Kaesar as its CEO, in place of CEO Peter Loescher, after missing profit targets.

Also in July, Siemens said it no longer expected to achieve a total sectors profit margin of at least 12 percent by fiscal 2014.

Seeking to cut its operating costs, Siemens, last month, said it will cut 15,000 jobs or about 4 percent of its total workforce over the next year. Siemens employs about 370,000 people worldwide.

Siemens' stock is trading at $122.13, down $2.27 or 1.82%, on a volume of 160 thousand shares on the NYSE. In Germany, the stock closed at 90.20 euros, down 1.06 euros or 1.14%, on a volume of 1.7 million shares.