Siemens close to cutting $40 billion stake in MRI maker

Siemens AG is finalizing options to reduce its majority stake in its legacy medical equipment unit after the $40.5 billion asset negatively impacted its share price. The German industrial company’s supervisory board will meet before investor day on Thursday and could decide on a way to reduce its ownership in Siemens Healthineers AG, according to a company spokesman. The 71% resizing of shares is complex and the company is considering various solutions, people familiar with the matter previously told Bloomberg News. Siemens has reduced its holdings in its legacy energy and medical divisions to streamline its business and expand in high-margin areas such as software and artificial intelligence. Although the conglomerate spun off in 2018 by taking Healthineers public in Frankfurt, it has only sold smaller pieces of shares so far.