Siemens appoints finance chief Kaeser as CEO

Former CFO turned CEO of Siemens AG Joe Kaeser. AP

BERLIN — Siemens AG has appointed longtime finance chief Joe Kaeser as its new chief executive, replacing Peter Loescher after a series of missed profit targets at the German industrial conglomerate.

Siemens said its supervisory board unanimously chose the 56-year-old Kaeser on Wednesday. It said a new chief financial officer will be appointed “in due course.”

The company says Loescher would leave the board “by mutual agreement.” The company had announced on Saturday night that the supervisory board would meet Wednesday to decide on his departure.

On Monday, in an apparent sign of concern over media reports of infighting, a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said the German leader considered it important for the company — a German industrial heavyweight — return to “calm waters.”