VW poised to buy Porsche
PORSCHE’S controlling families are this week set to agree the sale of its sports car business to Volkswagen for roughly €8bn (£6.9bn), according to reports in Germany.
The rival Porsche and Piech clans, which together own 100 per cent of Porsche, are understood to be about to approve the two-stage takeover at a a supervisory board meeting on Thursday.
Volkswagen would purchase a 49.9 per cent stake in Porsche and at a later date acquire the rest, in a deal that would create an integrated automotive group with 10 brands.
The sale would help Porsche pay off most of its debt, which is reportedly more than £10bn.
Press reports say Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking could negotiate a €100m severance pay as part of the deal, although Porsche denies it.
A separate report says that Volkswagen’s powerful chairman and part-owner of Porsche, Ferdinand Piech, plans to remove Wiedeking from the six-man steering committee on the VW supervisory board.
The vacancy could allow Piech’s cousin and rival, Wolfgang Porsche, who is VW supervisory board member and Porsche chairman, to replace Wiedeking in the committee.