Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG has followed up its 10% stake in Escom AG with a 10% stake in Escom’s arch-rival Vobis Microcomputer AG. The shares were acquired in equal parts from the three shareholders Kaufhof Holding AG and the founders of Vobis, Rainer Fraling and Theo Lieven. The new ownership split is Kaufhof AG with 58.5%, Fraling and Lieven with 31.5% between them, Siemens 10%. Siemens’ stake in Escom is going to 12.5%, but only so that it does not get diluted in Escom’s next fund-raising exercise. The main aim of the alliance is to boost the purchasing power of all three by enabling them to order components in common. The personal computer business is driven by volumes and logistics. Whoever controls volume will be the winner. We could not control volume alone, Nixdorf chief executive Gerhard Schulmeyer. We in Germany want to do something together against the Americans and the Japanese, echoed Vobis. The personal computer market accounts for around $2,400m in annual sales for Nixdorf, and the business will be profitable this year, Schulmeyer said, despite what he described as enormous pressure on margins.
