Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser attends a news conference ahead of the company's annual shareholders meeting in Munich, Germany, January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Michael Dalder

MUNICH (Reuters) - Siemens’ decision to separate and spin off its struggling gas and power business is intended to strengthen the group’s remaining businesses, Chief Executive Joe Kaeser said on Wednesday.

“It is about further developing a company which is changing fundamentally,” Kaeser told a news conference about the decision to separate the business that has struggled with collapsing demand for large gas turbines as customers switch to renewable energy sources.

“Our maximum priority is to stabilize a company which is sound and strong in its core. Many companies dream of being in situation Siemens is in,” he said.

He declined to give more details about how Siemens would address it train and signaling business, after its attempt to merge it with France’s Alstom was rejected by regulators earlier this year.

Siemens would instead be focused on other parts of the business, Kaeser said.

“You have to get your priorities right,” Kaeser said. “If we have an IPO of mobility next year or three years from now that is irrelevant.”