Siemens CEO fending off activist investors

Munich

BY his own admission, Siemens AG chief executive officer Joe Kaeser is working to keep activist investors at bay.

As a host of prominent European manufacturers - with historic roots in countries like the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland - face a surge of shareholders demanding change, the head of the region's biggest engineering company says he's growing increasingly wary of striking the right balance between financial results and building for the future.