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.
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