Wednesday, Jul 15, 2009
By Christoph Rauwald
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) said Wednesday that its supervisory board is set to hold an extraordinary meeting in Stuttgart July 23, indicating an imminent decision on its planned integration with Porsche Automobil Holding SE (PAH3.XE).
Volkswagen spokesman Michael Brendel confirmed that the board meeting was planned, but declined to comment on the agenda.
Porsche wasn't immediately available for comment.
Porsche, which is based in Stuttgart, had said Friday that its supervisory board planned to meet July 23 to discuss an offer for a capital injection from Qatar Investment Authority.
A person close to the supervisory board told Dow Jones Friday that the board was set to discuss an offer worked out between Porsche's executive board and QIA for the state-owned investment firm to take a stake in the German sports-car maker, as well as acquiring options on Volkswagen stock from Porsche. The deal could be worth more than EUR5 billion, the person said.
The person added that the supervisory board also will discuss a separate offer from Volkswagen to take a 49% stake in Porsche's core sports-car operations.
Porsche and much larger German peer Volkswagen are planning to forge an integrated car company, but a fierce power struggle behind the scenes over future influence has so far prevented a concrete outcome.
Since 2005, Porsche has raised its shareholding in Volkswagen to almost 51% and accumulated a complex set of options to hike its stake by another 20%. But Porsche's net debt tripled to EUR9 billion when it built its holding, effectively forcing it to abandon its push for a 75% stake and to get access to Volkswagen's cash reserves.
Company Web site: www.volkswagen.com
-By Christoph Rauwald, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 512; christoph.rauwald@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
15-07-09 0952GMT
