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Siemens Energy
shares fell Friday, then
General Electric
sued the German company for the alleged theft of trade secrets it claims were used to win billions worth of billions of dollars.
Shares of the company, derived from
Siemens
the one quoted in September last year was 6.3% lower in the first operations. Despite the fall, shares have still risen 44% since their listing.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in a U.S. district court in Virginia, alleges that Siemens Energy obtained the trade secrets from the American giant when both companies competed for a gas turbine contract for the power company based. Virginia.
Dominion Energy
in May 2019. He claims that a senior Dominion employee shared the details of GE’s contract offer with a Siemens employee, who then passed on trade secrets to ‘dozens’ of colleagues, including those in charge of the company. Siemens’ own offer.
Read:GE Stock isn’t going anywhere in 2021. That’s why JP Morgan still does.
These secrets were used to improve Siemens’ bid, which eventually won the contract worth between $ 225 and $ 340 million, depending on demand. Grouping this injustice, Siemens waited 16 months before revealing to GE that it owned GE’s trade secrets in September 2020 in a letter “nothing to do here, folks,” in which Siemens distorted and downplayed the scope and impact of its illegal scheme, ”According to the presentation.
The lawsuit alleges that between May 2019, when the derivation proposal was announced until its completion in September 2020, Siemens Energy was “highly motivated” to secure as many energy contracts as possible to increase its financial prospects. and increase its share price provided its initial public offering.
He alleges that trade secrets are relevant to at least eight other gas turbine contracts “unfairly won” by Siemens Energy over General Electric in the 16-month period before the German company notified GE. He added that the secrets were still relevant to the award of a pending contract in South Carolina, which the two companies competed for, and added that the company has “firmly refused” to ensure that GE has destroyed the secrets. .
In total, he alleged that the theft has allowed Siemens to win “billions of dollars” in contracts at the expense of GE’s ability to compete fairly.
Citi analysts said the lawsuit was negative for sentiment about Siemens Energy, which has been one of the best artists in the industry recently, although they noted that litigation can take a long time to develop.
“However, in terms of stock price sensitivity, a $ 1 billion fine (potentially at the upper end of possible scenarios) would equate to around € 1.1 per share, or 3% of impact on the closing price on January 14, “they said. “This should be seen in the context of the> 50% increase in the price of Siemens Energy shares in the last three months,” they added.
Siemens Energy said it had not yet officially communicated the demand, but that it had found out through the media reports.
Said a spokesman De Barron the company identified the use of trade secrets “through its own robust compliance processes” before conducting an internal investigation and disclosing the findings to both Dominion and GE.
Read:Siemens shuts down its power supply unit. What does this mean for GE Stock?
The company said it had implemented “extensive corrective action” in response, disciplining the employees involved, including separating the company, removing “confidential competitor information” from all of its systems and providing additional compliance training for all employees in the US.
“The integrity of Siemens Energy is critical to our operating principles and will not be compromised in any case,” the spokesman added.
A GE spokesman said: “At GE we aggressively protect and defend our intellectual property. As this litigation is ongoing, we have no further comment at this time. ”
Dominion Energy declined to comment.