Siemens buys Rolls-Royce energy assets to catch up with GE.

Siemens AG agreed to buy some Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc energy assets for $1.3 billion and plans to list its hearing-aid unit as Europe's largest engineering company aims to close a profitability gap with rivals General Electric Co. (GE) and ABB Ltd.

Siemens will buy Rolls-Royce's energy aero-derivative gas turbine and compressor business to strengthen its position in the power generation and oil and gas industries and manage its healthcare business separately, the Munich-based company said in a statement recently. The measures will boost productivity by about Euro 1 billion a year, starting from the end of fiscal 2016.

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