Money Prog report on Porsche take over of VW

[Ipelm]

Awesome Money Programme report on how Porsche beat the hedge funds to take over a company many times larger under the noses of the financial speculators.

I however am no expert on this so I wonder what the more knowledgeable out there thought? it seems that they got burned by not knowing that a few of the German Stock Exchange rules are different, arrogance and simply underestimating Porsche?

Edited by Ipelm on Thursday 22 January 21:18

[cardigankid]

All of the above, but if you liked the programme you should read some of the newspaper and magazine articles which were very much better informed.

[r11co]

cardigankid said:

All of the above, but if you liked the programme you should read some of the newspaper and magazine articles which were very much better informed.

Indeed. Most commentators are of the opinion that what they did would be regarded as fraud in every other developed nation on the planet. Insider trading is probably the closest description.

The fact that the Porsche family have deep connections with German government probably also helped make sure the legislation stayed off the Teutonic equivalent of the statute book......

Edited by r11co on Wednesday 28th January 11:19

[cardigankid]

Mind you, what the hedge funds do is also tantamount to fraud, so they just got beaten at their own game. Porsche may have lent them the shares to short sell, and may not have disclosed the full extent of their own holdings, but then they were under no obligation to do so, and they certainly didn't force the hedge funds to do what they did.

In addition to that it was quite clear that someone was engaged in a concerted and secret effort to undermine the value of VW shares, that is even before they started dumping shares to reduce the value. The bds got what they deserved. fk them.

[ph123]

Wasn't it he fact that when the FT had a jounalist ask specifically, that as the share price was not sagging ( normal sign that the shares have an interest), were Porsches taking up the slack, the answer from whoever was a definite 'No, no way.'?
Which was a misleading statement.
In financial matters concerning shares, you cannot deliberately mislead or misinform. (Or lie or cheat.)
So Porsche are under investigation by German authorities.
But who would unscramble that mess on the poor motor business in recession?

An ace story though; surely to be followed by one on the Piech/Weideking relationship.

Edited by ph123 on Friday 30th January 08:54

[cardigankid]

I don't think that Porsche set this up. I think that they reacted to a situation that the hedge funds created, and were fully entitled to do so. I am sure that if you examine precisely what was said and when it was said they did nothing wrong or wilfully misleading. No company is under a legal obligation to bend over the bonnet and take it up the jacksie from a cartel of hedge funds.

Hedge funds try to manipulate the market, particularly by spreading rumours and dumping shares. That is far more reprehensible, and whatever Porsche did, should in my view exclude them from any entitlement to damages as they would arguably be profiting from crime.