Emir Of Qatar Plans To Join Porsche

2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 09:36

The heavily indebted car manufacturer Porsche can possibly expect the Emir of Qatar to join. According to media reports, there should already be an oral promise.

According to information from the news magazine “Focus”, the Emir of Qatar has given Porsche boss Wendelin Wiedeking an oral promise to join the heavily indebted sports car manufacturer. Wiedeking has already traveled to the Gulf state several times for talks, reports the magazine. A contract has not yet been signed. A Porsche spokesman did not want to comment on the report on Saturday in Stuttgart. "We're not saying anything about ongoing discussions with potential investors." VW works council chairman Bernd Osterloh believes that the talks between the two car manufacturers will continue to fail.

Lifted at VW takeover

The Stuttgart-based company has massively moved into the planned VW takeover and is struggling with a mountain of debt of around nine billion euros. Porsche has been looking for new investors for months and is also negotiating with numerous banks for a loan totaling 12.5 billion euros. After the commitment for a total of 10.75 billion euros, Porsche applied to the state-owned KfW bank for the remaining 1.75 billion euros at the end of last week.

According to the information, negotiations are being held with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) for both the sports car manufacturer and VW. Porsche owns almost 51 percent of the shares in VW and, with the help of the banks, holds stock options for a further 24 percent. According to “Focus”, one possibility would be for the emirate to acquire these options, which expire in mid-June, and thus become a further shareholder in Europe's largest car manufacturer alongside the state of Lower Saxony.

The alternative would be Qatar's entry into the Porsche Holding, which controls the sports car business and the VW stake. However, this would require a capital increase and an extraordinary general meeting.

VW works council relaxed

The VW works council reacted calmly: "If the emirate of Qatar thinks of joining Volkswagen, we assume that it will seek dialogue with Volkswagen employees in good time," said the VW works council spokesman, Gunnar Kilian. “Anyone who becomes a shareholder in Volkswagen is responsible for more than 360,000 employees around the world. The Emirate of Qatar must be aware of this before making a decision. There have been others in the recent past who apparently were not aware of this, »said Kilian.

"That is why we are assuming that the emirate of Qatar, if it even thinks of joining, will seek talks with the country, the Volkswagen company and us." According to Osterloh, the merger of Porsche and VW is still open. It is possible that the negotiations, which are still interrupted, will end without result, he told the Berliner Zeitung (Saturday). "We will only do what is good for Volkswagen." He is again demanding complete transparency from Porsche regarding the sports car maker's financial situation. VW is a very healthy company, but in times of crisis, securing liquidity must have priority. "We are critical of a merger because there is a risk that Porsche SE's debt will be loaded onto our balance sheet," said the works council chairman. (dpa)