Siemens CEO says aim of overhaul is for sound and strong company

MUNICH (Reuters) - Siemens' decision to separate and spin off its struggling gas and power business is intended to strengthen the group's remaining businesses, Chief Executive Joe Kaeser said on Wednesday.

"It is about further developing a company which is changing fundamentally," Kaeser told a news conference about the decision to separate the business that has struggled with collapsing demand for large gas turbines as customers switch to renewable energy sources.

"Our maximum priority is to stabilise a company which is sound and strong in its core. Many companies dream of being in situation Siemens is in," he said.

He declined to give more details about how Siemens would address it train and signalling business, after its attempt to merge it with France's Alstom was rejected by regulators earlier this year.

Siemens would instead be focussed on other parts of the business, Kaeser said.

"You have to get your priorities right," Kaeser said. "If we have an IPO of mobility next year or three years from now that is irrelevant."

(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Thomas Seythal)