Siemens Energy CEO: wind spin-off idea valid, but turnaround comes first

By Christoph Steitz and Laila Kearney

FRANKFURT/NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Siemens Energy's ENR1n.DE CEO said on Tuesday it was reasonable for activist investor Ananym Capital to push for a spin-off of the firm's loss-making wind turbine division, but added the unit must first be stabilised and made profitable.

U.S.-based Ananym said in December it had taken a stake in Siemens Energy and asked management to review the wind division, Siemens Gamesa, saying it could be worth $10 billion in the future and that a spin-off could lift investor returns by 60%.

"The question is absolutely right, and this is something I would ask also myself every time," Christian Bruch told Reuters, adding the business needed a clear trajectory towards double‑digit margins.

"And at this point in time, the first task is to stabilise this business and make it profitable," he said. "As long as these things are not there, it's the wrong timing to ask about spin-offs."

Siemens Gamesa, which made an operating loss of 1.36 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in 2025, is forecast to break even this year and reach an operating margin of 3-5% in 2028.

Bruch said offshore wind could see a turnaround similar to Siemens Energy's grid business, where margins rose to 15.8% in 2025 from 3.6% in 2022, helping lift the group's share price nearly eleven‑fold over the past two years.

"If we look back to 2020, and if you recall how the grid business looked, nobody ever believed that this could be the business with the best profitable growth of the company. And just four years later, it really turned ... around," Bruch said.

"Could this happen with offshore wind as well? Yes. Do I see it today? No, not yet. But this is why I would say it's a question of timing and ... conditions."

The CEO also told Reuters that Siemens Energy plans to invest $1 billion to expand U.S. power grid and gas-turbine component production as the country builds data centres needed to power AI technology.

($1 = 0.8479 euros)