Porsche’s hope of securing a 75 per cent stake in Volkswagen may be under threat after the head of the German State of Lower Saxony said he would welcome an approach from Arab investors.
Premier Christian Wulff told a German regional newspaper: ‘If an Arab investor bought a stake in VW, alongside Lower Saxony, Porsche and Piech, it would be welcomed.’
Further investment from outside parties would weaken Porsche’s stranglehold over VW. Porsche has previously stated its desire to control majority voting rights in Volkswagen by the end of the year, increasing its current 50.76 per cent stake in the company to the required 75 per cent threshold.
However, in a bizarre twist to the Porsche-VW power struggle, the dominant sports car manufacturer may end up selling control of its manufacturing business to Volkswagen in order to wipe clean the estimated €16bn debt of holding company Porsche SE.
That deal is due to be hammered out later this week, when the two parties are set to discuss the possible takeover of Porsche AG by Volkswagen.
The Piech and Porsche families, the owners of Porsche SE and Porsche AG, are both heavily exposed after investing nearly €23bn in their quest to acquire their 51 per cent stake in VW, but the heads of the families appear to be at loggerheads over the proposed sale of Porsche cars.
Wolfgang Porsche recently told a Frankfurt newspaper that; ‘Porsche AG will not be sold to Volkswagen.’ However his cousin Ferdinand Piech is thought to endorse the sale which could net the two families more than €11bn.
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