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Porsche prepares to enter Auto Union with VW
It’s been a tortuous road, but Porsche looks as though it might finally have struck a deal with VW and Qatar to sort out its debt problems.
A Reuters report says that details of a deal between Volkswagen and Porsche have been broadly agreed, with VW set to buy a stake of up to 49 percent in the sportscar maker. The Porsche marque will then enter into a new “Auto Union” as the 10th brand, under the leadership of VW CEO Martin Winterkorn.
The crucial point here is that the family-owned holding company Porsche Automobil Holding SE will get a much-needed cash injection from the sale – anywhere between 4 and 5.5 billion euros – as well as an additional 5 billion euros from selling a package of options on VW shares to the Gulf state of Qatar.
The Porsche clan has already agreed to sell shares to raise at least 5 billion euros, so it should finally be in a position to pay off debts of more than 10 billion euros it stacked up building up a stake of just over 50 percent in VW.
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The Wall
