Volkswagen poised to buy Porsche?
The dramatic and bitter power struggle between the two German firms looks set for a conclusionIt's been part soap opera, part family feud and part financial fight but the battle for control between the Volkswagen Group and Porsche SE is reportedly close to an end. Reports close to the situation suggest Porsche is set to accept an offer from Volkswagen that will see the iconic sportscar marque purchased by the ‘People's Car' company.
After nine months of backroom dealing and the famous family feud between Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piech and his cousins at Porsche, it appears Piech will have the last laugh. VW is set to buy Porsche AG, the sportscar manufacturing part of the company, for €8billion in two stages over the coming weeks.
Should the deal come to fruition it will allow Porsche to pay off the majority of the €10billion debts it accrued while attempting to take a controlling stake in VW. There is also speculation that VW AG may look at purchasing Porsche's Salzburg-based network of dealerships from the family owners, which could inject a further €3billion into the Porsche coffers.
According to the reports, the Porsche and Piech families would take a 50 per cent stake of shares in the merged company. That would leave the government of Lower Saxony -- where VW is headquartered -- to retain its current 20 per cent holding and allow the majority of the remaining shares to by snapped up by Qatar-based investors.
Porsche would then become the 10th brand under the VW AG umbrella alongside Volkswagen passenger cars, Volkswagen commercial vehicles, Audi, Skoda, SEAT, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Bentley and Scania. The deal would be seen as a major blow for Porsche which has been fighting to retain its independence.
It could also be the end of the road for Prosche CEO, Wendelin Wiedeking, who German publication Speigel is reporting would be forced to step aside and replaced by current Porsche production chief Michael Macht. It wouldn't all be bad news for Wiedeking though with Spiegel also reporting he could cop a €100million golden handshake.
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