Siemens to buy energy unit from Rolls-Royce for $1.38BN

GERMANY — Britain's Rolls-Royce said on Tuesday it has agreed with Germany's Siemens AG to sell a unit that makes equipment for the oil and gas industry and power-generation gear for utilities.

Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier that Siemens was considering paying just under 1 billion euros ($1.38 billion) for Rolls-Royce's energy businesses outside of the nuclear industry.

Siemens' talks with the British company are part of a new strategy that the German engineering group will present on May 7, a Siemens spokesman said.

The news comes on the same day Siemens said it would make an offer for French engineering group Alstom's power business if it is given enough time to draw up a detailed plan to rival a bid by General Electric.

Rolls-Royce's energy and nuclear business had revenue of 1.54 billion pounds ($2.59 billion) in 2013, the company said on its website. Excluding nuclear, the unit had revenue of about 940 million pounds.