The possible merger between German giant Siemens and Spain's Gamesa will positively affect the Egyptian renewable energy market, Chairman of Egypt's state-run New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), Mohamed Salah El Sobky stated Sunday. He added that this wind energy merger is set to create more opportunities for the two firms to develop global technologies used in wind power field. On Friday, Siemens and Spain's Gamesa agreed to create the world's biggest builder of windfarms, with the German company paying 1 billion euros ($1.13 billion) for a majority stake in the combined business. Engineering company Siemens, which has struggled to make its wind turbine business profitable, will take a 59 percent stake in the company but not have a majority on the board, Gamesa said in a statement to Spain's market regulator. In return for taking the leading role, Siemens will pay Gamesa's shareholders, which include Spanish utility firm Iberdrola, 1 billion euros in cash in the form of an extraordinary dividend. The combined business will have 21,000 employees, an installed power base of 69 gigawatts, and will be headquartered in Spain. Siemens will have five out of the 13 board members in the new group, Gamesa said, with Iberdrola having two of its own. On other side, Siemens is set to lay the corner stone of its first factory to produce blades of wind power turbines in Egypt within the coming few days, the official clarified. NREA is about to sign the final contracts of establishing a chain of wind farms with Siemens with total capacities of 2,000 mega watts, El Sobky noted.
