VH_Supra26
04-25-2008, 05:43 PM
http://www.motorauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/Porsche/911/gt3/911_gt3_rs.jpg
Update: At a board meeting held April 24th, the German state of Lower Saxony blocked a move by Porsche to reduce the required vote threshold for major strategic decisions at Volkswagen. Lower Saxony owns just over 20% of VW’s shares, and all major decisions for the automaker require an 80% approval of the shareholders, per the company’s by-laws.
Porsche proposed to reduce the approval requirement to 75% - effectively eliminating Lower Saxony’s minority blocking privilege. But the vote failed, garnering only 60% shareholder support - short of the 75% needed to pass the proposal, reports Automotive News. Porsche’s stake in VW is currently at 31%, but the company has plans to increase that to 50% by the end of the year. Lower Saxony justified its move as protective of the 80,000 jobs VW provides inside its borders.
Previous Update: Porsche has released an official statement denying claims made by German media that it was planning to acquire up to 75% of Volkswagen’s shares. The statement said: “The speculation about going up to 75 percent does not consider the realities of VW’s shareholder structure. In view of the fact that the German Federal State of Lower Saxony, as the second major shareholder, holds a stake of more than 20 percent in Volkswagen, the probability of acquiring the necessary shares from the remaining freefloat is very small indeed.”
Original: With Porsche finally confirming last week that it will increase its stake in VW from the current 31% to a majority holding, the only question remaining is how much of VW does Porsche intend on acquiring. For a majority stake Porsche would only need to purchase 50% plus one share of VW but analysts are predicting it could acquire as much as 75% as this would also allow Porsche to benefit more from VW’s profits and cash flows under what’s known as a ‘domination and profit transfer agreement’.
A report in Germany’s Focus magazine claims Porsche will raise its stake in VW to 75% in order to approve a domination agreement at a shareholder meeting, and that current Porsche execs Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piech will sit on the new VW board.
Standing in Porsche’s way is the German state of Lower Saxony, which still holds a 20% stake in VW. The council is concerned about VW’s 82,000 German employees and plans to keep all of its shares. Unless Porsche can broker some sort of deal safeguarding the jobs it’s unlikely the Lower Saxony government will agree to Porsche increasing its holding to the domination agreement levels.
Meanwhile, the Porsche family has allegedly increased its stake in Porsche’s holding company to 61.9% from 53.7%, while the Piech family has reduced its stake to 38.1% from 46.3%. Der Spiegel reports that Ferdinand Piech was forced to step down from the four-man Porsche board and will instead sit on the supervisory board of Audi as a result of the latest transaction.
http://www.motorauthority.com/news/industry/porsche-predicted-to-take-75-stake-in-vw/
Update: At a board meeting held April 24th, the German state of Lower Saxony blocked a move by Porsche to reduce the required vote threshold for major strategic decisions at Volkswagen. Lower Saxony owns just over 20% of VW’s shares, and all major decisions for the automaker require an 80% approval of the shareholders, per the company’s by-laws.
Porsche proposed to reduce the approval requirement to 75% - effectively eliminating Lower Saxony’s minority blocking privilege. But the vote failed, garnering only 60% shareholder support - short of the 75% needed to pass the proposal, reports Automotive News. Porsche’s stake in VW is currently at 31%, but the company has plans to increase that to 50% by the end of the year. Lower Saxony justified its move as protective of the 80,000 jobs VW provides inside its borders.
Previous Update: Porsche has released an official statement denying claims made by German media that it was planning to acquire up to 75% of Volkswagen’s shares. The statement said: “The speculation about going up to 75 percent does not consider the realities of VW’s shareholder structure. In view of the fact that the German Federal State of Lower Saxony, as the second major shareholder, holds a stake of more than 20 percent in Volkswagen, the probability of acquiring the necessary shares from the remaining freefloat is very small indeed.”
Original: With Porsche finally confirming last week that it will increase its stake in VW from the current 31% to a majority holding, the only question remaining is how much of VW does Porsche intend on acquiring. For a majority stake Porsche would only need to purchase 50% plus one share of VW but analysts are predicting it could acquire as much as 75% as this would also allow Porsche to benefit more from VW’s profits and cash flows under what’s known as a ‘domination and profit transfer agreement’.
A report in Germany’s Focus magazine claims Porsche will raise its stake in VW to 75% in order to approve a domination agreement at a shareholder meeting, and that current Porsche execs Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piech will sit on the new VW board.
Standing in Porsche’s way is the German state of Lower Saxony, which still holds a 20% stake in VW. The council is concerned about VW’s 82,000 German employees and plans to keep all of its shares. Unless Porsche can broker some sort of deal safeguarding the jobs it’s unlikely the Lower Saxony government will agree to Porsche increasing its holding to the domination agreement levels.
Meanwhile, the Porsche family has allegedly increased its stake in Porsche’s holding company to 61.9% from 53.7%, while the Piech family has reduced its stake to 38.1% from 46.3%. Der Spiegel reports that Ferdinand Piech was forced to step down from the four-man Porsche board and will instead sit on the supervisory board of Audi as a result of the latest transaction.
http://www.motorauthority.com/news/industry/porsche-predicted-to-take-75-stake-in-vw/