Official: Porsche Increase Volkswagen Stake to Over 50%

VW Porsche

Porsche now owns 50.76 percent of VW shares but still does not control the company

By Alex Ricciuti
January 5, 2009 11:26 PM
Filed Under: Corporate/Financial, German, Porsche, Volkswagen

Porsche has achieved its goal of owning a majority share of Volkswagen AG.

On Monday, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, based in Stuttgart, Germany, announced that it had acquired further shares in VW and that it now holds 50.76 percent of ordinary voting shares in the German automaker.

Wolfsburg-based Volkswagen had been fighting off a hostile bid by Porsche to control VW for years. But in recent months an agreement was reached between the two companies that has allowed Porsche to gain a larger share of VW stock.

But Porsche still does not have a controlling interest in VW. According to German law, control of a company requires a 75 percent share of the vote at a stockholder meeting. And VW's charter rules have traditionally required an 80% share to exercise control of the company, which has also given the government of Lower-Saxony, which owns a minority stake in VW, veto power over how the company is run. Porsche recently lost a legal bid challenging those rules.

The government of Lower-Saxony owns 20.1 percent of Volkswagen AG.

Source: Porsche Automobil Holding SE

Press Release (Click to expand)

On this Monday, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Stuttgart, purchased further ordinary shares in Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg, and will increase its holding to 50.76 per cent of all ordinary voting shares in Volkswagen. As a result of passing the threshold of 50 per cent Porsche will acquire indirect control over Scania AB, Södertälje, and is required by Swedish law to launch a mandatory offer for the truck manufacturer. The Stuttgart-domiciled company is not bound by pre-acquisition prices and is only obliged to offer the minimum price prescribed by law. The minimum price will be calculated on the basis of the volume weighted average stock exchange price of the Scania shares during the 20 trading days prior to publication of the acquisition of the majority in Volkswagen. Porsche points out that it has no strategic interest in Scania and is not interested in acquiring Scania shares.

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