Siemens Energy to rebrand as Omterra, shedding the Siemens name and a 300-million-euro annual licence fee

The rebrand decision

Siemens Energy will drop the Siemens name and operate as Omterra, the company announced on Tuesday afternoon. The move unites the current entities Siemens Energy and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy under a single brand identity and is driven by the time-limited licence agreement governing use of the Siemens trademark after the 2020 spin-off from Siemens AG. The licence runs until the end of the decade, but the company is initiating the switch earlier.

Since our stock-market listing it was clear that the licensed Siemens Energy brand would be available to us for a limited period.

The rebrand process is scheduled to begin later this calendar year and will be implemented in stages. According to N-tv, the transition phase is expected to last about one and a half years. The company states that there will be no changes to its strategic direction for customers, business partners, or employees.

The price of the Siemens name

The Siemens brand carried advantages abroad, particularly in Arab countries, but it came at a steep price. In the last financial year 2024/25 (ending 30 September), Siemens Energy paid licence fees of roughly 300 million euros to the former parent. The fee is revenue-dependent. Siemens AG's stake in Siemens Energy has meanwhile fallen from 35 percent at the time of the spin-off to about five percent.

Industry sources cited by Handelsblatt indicate that the total cost of the brand transition, spread over several years, will be lower than a single year's licence payment, meaning the rebrand will cost less than 300 million euros. Negotiations with Siemens AG about an early termination of the brand agreement are now needed, and industrial circles consider a premature resolution possible.

Omterra: a new name with old roots

The new name is a coined term, chosen deliberately as an independent, internationally viable brand. Such invented names are common in rebranding cases for trademark-protection reasons, and Omterra was already among the top three candidates at the time of the 2020 spin-off before the company decided to continue initially as Siemens Energy. Recent years have seen several German industrial giants adopt similarly constructed names, including Traton (VW's commercial-vehicle unit), Ceconomy (parent of Saturn and MediaMarkt), and Vitesco (spun off from Continental).

Internally, employees have long referred to themselves as "Team Purple," a nod to the logo colour used to foster gradual detachment from the Siemens identity. Purple is set to play a central role in the new Omterra logo as well. About one third of the workforce joined the company only after the stock-market listing, according to one insider.

From near-collapse to record profits

The company's trajectory since its September 2020 IPO at 23 euros per share has been volatile. The wind-power unit Siemens Gamesa generated billions in losses, pushing the stock below 7 euros in autumn 2023 (below 10 euros according to Handelsblatt's reporting of the same period) and forcing the company to request state-backed guarantees so banks would continue issuing the guarantees needed to work through its large order backlog.

Today Siemens Energy is strategically, operationally and financially well positioned.

That crisis has largely been overcome. The group is benefitting from several tailwinds: grid modernisation, wind-power expansion, high demand for gas-fired power plants, and the energy needs of AI data centres. For the current financial year, the company targets a profit of around 4 billion euros, which would be by far the highest figure in its short history. The stock now trades around 150 euros, giving the group a market capitalisation of roughly 130 billion euros and placing it among the most valuable companies in Germany's DAX index.

What happens next

Preparations for the name change are now underway under CEO Christian Bruch. The company informed employees at midday on Tuesday about the plans. No changes are planned for customers, business partners, or staff in terms of strategy. The group's core remains the former Siemens energy-technology division: gas power plants, power transmission technology, wind turbines, and electrolysers for hydrogen production.