Africa - Siemens to spend EUR 200 million to double its market shre

[business day] SIEMENS is to spend €200m in Africa in the next two years and plans to double to 10% its share of the market in the regions it serves, estimated to be worth almost €30bn a year by 2012.

The president and CEO of Siemens, Peter Loscher, said on Friday that the investment would focus mainly on expanding its business and sales structures in Africa, where the group was eyeing business in health, renewable energy and infrastructure development.

About R1bn of the total planned investment would be spent in southern Africa, according to the CEO of Siemens Southern Africa, Stuart Clarkson. His unit plans to use SA as a launch pad for winning orders for renewable energy projects across the continent.

"Africa offers Siemens vast opportunities for growth," Mr Loscher said. "As a green infrastructure pioneer, we are a natural partner for mastering the continent's major challenges. Renewable energies, in particular, have huge potential in Africa." Mr Loscher was in SA to celebrate 150 years of doing business here.

Siemens joins the small but growing list of global companies already doing business with Africa that want to consolidate their market share as part of a strategy to become major players in emerging markets.

But cash-rich Chinese and Indian companies have been more aggressive of late, stealing a march on their European competitors, who have been focusing on recovering from the devastation in home markets caused by last year's recession.

Mr Loscher said Siemens wanted to grow its presence in Africa and had already clustered its individual African companies into five sales regions and had changed the setup of its business in oil-rich Angola.

Siemens last year announced plans to more than triple new orders in Africa to €3bn by the end of this year, from orders of almost €1bn that the group won last year.

"In fiscal 2012 the African market served by Siemens will have a total volume of a little less than €30bn a year and the company expects to have doubled its share of this market to 10%," Mr Loscher said.

Siemens to Invest Millions to Expand Business