Siemens (SIEGn.DE) agreed to buy U.S. (Reuters) - based Mentor Graphics (MENT.O) in a $4.5 billion cash deal that will further enhance

the German engineering group's industrial software capabilities.
Siemens said on Monday it would pay $37.25 per share for Mentor Graphics, which makes software for designing semiconductors, a 21 percent premium to Friday's closing price.
Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser has set out to reshape the group, a household name in Germany, to make it more profitable and more agile by selling off non-core businesses and investing in areas promising faster growth and fatter margins.
One such area is software where Siemens increasingly competes with firms that can develop technology faster because that is their sole focus. Earlier this year, Siemens bought CD-adapco, a privately held U.S. engineering software firm, for close to $1 billion.
Siemens said last week that it planned a public listing of its $15 billion healthcare business, which pushed its shares to a 16-year high as investors hoped for an injection of capital to boost its valuation while funding new investments.