German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG bought majority stakes in two small Chinese metal companies on Wednesday.

Siemens, based in Munich, said its energy division acquired the majority stakes in two metal companies based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. One is Yangtze Delta Manufacturing, a metalworking company, and the other is aluminum foundry GIS Steel & Aluminum Products, according to local media reports.

Siemens said the two companies had a total workforce of 600 employees, with combined revenue of 65 million euros (US$93 million) in 2008, but it did not release how much it paid to buy these two companies.

Siemens made these two acquisitions to expand its global production network for high-voltage circuit breakers in China and its foundry capabilities from machining through final product assembly, according to the local media reports, as China is now the world's largest market for power transmission equipment.

"Over the long term, we are anticipating a constantly high demand for high voltage power transmission products in China and are thus securing the requisite capacities to maintain our successful business in this growth market," Udo Niehage, Siemens' chief power transmission official said in the company's statement.

(Xinhua News Agency August 27, 2009)