Together with Munich Mayor Christian Ude, Siemens President and CEO Peter Löscher has laid the foundation stone for the company's new headquarters building, which will be completed on Wittelsbacherplatz in Munich by the end of 2015. The future inner-city complex will provide employees with a 21st-century working environment and be freely accessible to the general public at ground level. Siemens has set the highest standards for sustainability for its new headquarters, and will fulfill the criteria for minimum energy consumptions in buildings.
Siemens has entered into an agreement to acquire Invensys Rail, the rail automation business of Invensys for approximately €2.2 billion (£1.742 billion). At the same time, the company plans to divest its baggage handling, postal and parcel sorting activities. Both planned transactions are part of the recently launched "Siemens 2014" company program, which amongst others, is aimed at strengthening the company's core activities.