The pension fund of Siemens, the German electronics group, has sold its entire stake in Infineon, the semiconductor manufacturer, which has lost 86% of its value since Siemens transferred the stock to its pension fund in April 2001.

The pension fund's investment in Infineon has blown a hole of more than €2bn ($2.1bn) in the fund's value, contributing to a deficit estimated by Merrill Lynch, the US investment bank, at €5.1bn last summer. The fund has total assets of €15bn.