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.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a