Porsche to Launch VW offer
03-24-2007, 09:58 AM
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Porsche to Launch VW offer
Porsche to Launch VW Offer
By STEVE MCGRATH
March 24, 2007 8:47 a.m.
German sports car maker Porsche AG Saturday said that it intends to launch a bid for the whole of Volkswagen AG after it has completed raising its stake in Europe's biggest car manufacturer to 31%, from 27.3%.
Porsche said it expects to pay €100.92 (US$135) per VW share under its offer, the minimum price prescribed by German law. It said it doesn't want to pay a premium to that price because VW's ordinary shares have already risen 100% since Porsche first acquired a stake in VW.
VW wasn't immediately available for comment.
The move had been long speculated in the markets after Porsche several times raised its stake in VW. However, as recently as the Geneva Auto Show earlier this month, Porsche had denied its intention was to launch a takeover offer for its volume car-producing rival.
The two company's already have close ties. As well as Porsche being VW's largest shareholder, VW's powerful supervisory board chairman and former CEO Ferdinand Piech is at the same time a key shareholder and supervisory board member at Porsche.
In a statement following an extraordinary general meeting, Stuttgart-based Porsche said its board had authorized the company's management to make the stake increase and launch the bid in the "short term."
Porsche said it will also create a holding company, which will be a European stock corporation, or Societas Europaea (SE), so that it can split its Porsche operational business from its VW holding.
By STEVE MCGRATH
March 24, 2007 8:47 a.m.
German sports car maker Porsche AG Saturday said that it intends to launch a bid for the whole of Volkswagen AG after it has completed raising its stake in Europe's biggest car manufacturer to 31%, from 27.3%.
Porsche said it expects to pay €100.92 (US$135) per VW share under its offer, the minimum price prescribed by German law. It said it doesn't want to pay a premium to that price because VW's ordinary shares have already risen 100% since Porsche first acquired a stake in VW.
VW wasn't immediately available for comment.
The move had been long speculated in the markets after Porsche several times raised its stake in VW. However, as recently as the Geneva Auto Show earlier this month, Porsche had denied its intention was to launch a takeover offer for its volume car-producing rival.
The two company's already have close ties. As well as Porsche being VW's largest shareholder, VW's powerful supervisory board chairman and former CEO Ferdinand Piech is at the same time a key shareholder and supervisory board member at Porsche.
In a statement following an extraordinary general meeting, Stuttgart-based Porsche said its board had authorized the company's management to make the stake increase and launch the bid in the "short term."
Porsche said it will also create a holding company, which will be a European stock corporation, or Societas Europaea (SE), so that it can split its Porsche operational business from its VW holding.
03-24-2007, 03:58 PM
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errr, expect the WSJ to modify that report, it won't happen in the way it is reported here.
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Originally Posted by From The Press Release
Once this mandatory offer has been implemented, any further increases by Porsche of its stake in VW will not trigger a renewed obligation to make an offer to the remaining shareholders of the Wolfsburg-based car manufacturer. At present, it is unclear whether, when and on what terms such increases will take place.
