The Porsche and Piech families, which control Porsche SE, will sell a 10 percent stake of their shares to a Qatar investment fund, giving it a significant stake in a new joint Volkswagen-Porsche company.
The deal, which was to be signed on Friday, will result in more than 1 billion euros (US$1.43 billion) in fresh funds for Porsche SE, the company said in a statement. The Qatar company will also take over a portion of Porsche’s Volkswagen (VW) options.
Earlier in the day, VW’s chief financial officer, Hans Dieter Poetsch, said the Porsche and Piech families were expected to take a stake of between 35 percent and 39 percent in the new company.
PHOTO: AFP
VW also plans a capital hike next year — it will sell preferred shares in the new company to raise about US$6 billion to help fund the deal announced on Thursday, Poetsch said at a meeting of VW workers at the carmaker’s Wolfsburg headquarters.
No figures have been given on the Qatar Holding investment company’s stake but Poetsch said the Emirate Qatar “would become the third biggest shareholder at VW with a substantial stake.”
On Thursday, Volkswagen’s supervisory board approved absorbing Porsche AG into VW by the end of 2011, with an initial 42 percent stake to be acquired this year for US$4.72 billion.
VW will then in turn buy Porsche SE, the Salzburg-Austria based automobile trading business, for 3.55 billion euros starting in 2011.
“Volkswagen’s solid financial base and Porsche’s independence will be preserved,” VW said.
Poetsch said the exact capital position of the families in the new company would depend on specific criteria that would be reviewed during the process of the merger. Stuttgart-based Porsche AG is currently VW’s biggest shareholder with about 52 percent.
Meanwhile, Poetsch said Qatar’s investment would be just below that of the state of Lower Saxony. Lower Saxony holds about 21 percent of VW and will maintain its long disputed blocking minority at the carmaker.
Poetsch said the negotiations between Porsche and Qatar for the purchase of Porsche’s stock options in VW were advanced, with a decision expected in coming weeks.
Bernd Osterloh, Volkswagen’s workers’ council chairman said on Friday that VW workers could invest in a stake in the new company of between 1 percent and 5 percent.
VW, Europe’s biggest car company by sales, and Porsche, famous the world around for its sports cars, said the new group would realize about 700 million euros in synergies yearly, as VW pursues its stated goal of becoming the world’s biggest automotive group.
Porsche will become the tenth brand at VW, joining the ranks of Audi, Bentley and Skoda. VW is also a major shareholder in two of the continent’s biggest truck makers: Scania AB of Sweden and MAN SE of Germany.
An extraordinary shareholder meeting at VW will be scheduled this year for the approval of the capital hike.
Shares of VW fell more than 15 percent on the news to 191.72 euros while shares of Porsche Automobil Holding SE rose more than 10 percent to 49.19 euros in Frankfurt afternoon trading.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to