2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 15:44
Volkswagen has taken the announced step to take over Porsche Holding. With the proceeds, the Porsche and Piech families want to push the debt relief of the Zuffenhausen-based company.
The car manufacturer Volkswagen has taken over Europe's largest car dealer, Porsche Holding in Salzburg. Volkswagen announced this on Tuesday in Wolfsburg. The transaction was made as part of the agreement on the integration of the sports car manufacturer Porsche into the VW Group. VW pays 3.3 billion euros to the owners of the holding, the Porsche and Piech families. They want to put the majority of the proceeds into the planned capital increase at Porsche Holding SE, which is to serve to discharge the Stuttgart-based company.
Debt reduction is a prerequisite for integration
The debt reduction is a prerequisite for the integration of Porsche under the Wolfsburg roof as the tenth brand in the VW Group. The sports car maker fell into debt with the failed attempt to take over VW.
With the purchase, Volkswagen also increases its power on the international markets. The holding "is one of the world's most efficient and profitable sales companies in the automotive sector and therefore represents a significant strengthening of the Volkswagen Group's sales activities," said VW boss Martin Winterkorn on Tuesday. With the acquisition, Volkswagen is taking another step on the way to becoming an integrated automotive group of Volkswagen and Porsche, emphasized Winterkorn.
Still an independent unit
Only last week it became known that the merger planned for this year could be further delayed due to legal problems at Porsche. Ex-Porsche driver Wendelin Wiedeking and his former CFO Holger Härter are accused of, among other things, infidelity in the course of the failed VW takeover attempt by Porsche. However, Volkswagen already holds almost half of Porsche's auto business.
Porsche Holding will remain an independent unit under the umbrella of the VW Group and will continue the business model unchanged, VW announced. The company is considered to be the most successful private car dealer in Europe with a strong presence especially in Austria, Western and Southeastern Europe and China. In 2010 the holding company achieved sales of almost 13 billion euros with the sale of 565,000 new and used vehicles and employs around 20,900 people. In addition to the wholesale and retail business, the holding company also includes Porsche Bank, real estate, IT and insurance. (dpa)
