Osram Licht AG (OSRD)

[Enterprising Investor]

Osram Licht Likely to Join Germany's MDAX (8/21/13)

By Herbert Rude

Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1.XE) on Wednesday reclassified Osram Licht AG (OSR.XE), the recently spun off lighting unit of industrial giant Siemens AG (SI), to "Industrials, Diversified" from "Advanced Industrial Equipment," allowing it to join the MDAX in September.

Without the reclassification, the company would have been listed on the TecDAX in September.

The MDAX index tracks 50 stocks from sectors excluding technology that rank immediately below the companies in the blue-chip 30-member DAX index. The TecDAX index tracks the 30 largest German technology companies not in the DAX.

Deutsche Boerse will decide on alterations to its key indexes Sept. 4, and any changes will take effect after the close of trading on Sept. 20.

Osram is almost certain to join the MDAX given its large market capitalization and liquidity, and have an index weighting of around 2.5%, index analysts say.

Osram's share price has performed well since the stock started trading in July, climbing from EUR24 then to around EUR30 now.

Siemens is no stranger to spinoffs, which have included Epcos, Infineon Technologies AG (IFX.XE) and Linotype Hell AG.

Evonik Industries AG (EVK.XE) and RTL Group SA (RTL.BT) are also likely to join the MDAX in September, while Puma AG (PUM.XE), BayWa AG (BYW.XE) and SGL Carbon SE (SGL.XE) are likely to leave, based on market capitalization and liquidity considerations.

Write to Herbert Rude at [e-mail]