Siemens to sell its water treatment/desalination business

German giant Siemens is to sell its water treatment business known as Siemens Water Technologies, which is active predominantly in the North American market.

The business includes the company’s membrane and ion-exchange products for desalination and water treatment. Siemens Water Technologies also operates its own research center in Singapore, which includes a novel energy-efficient technique for electrochemical desalination of seawater.

Siemens said on 8 November 2012 that it intended to focus its water business on automation and drive solutions for the control of water applications for municipalities and industry, and for seawater desalination plants.

“This business shows only minor synergies with our industrial portfolio, as the skills for water treatment are primarily based on chemical expertise. Instead of investing into that business, we want to gear our resources toward our core portfolio,” said Siegfried Russwurm, member of the Siemens AG managing board and CEO of the Industry Sector.