It was like watching a soap opera but Porsche and VW were duking it out for months as they both try to take over each other. On one hand, Volkswagen clearly had the purchasing power but Porsche on the other hand has clever strategies on its own through leverage.
The German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel reported that VW would initially get 49.9 percent of Porsche and then later grab the remaining shares. In the deal, Porsche will receive 8 billion euros from VW, which will pay off some of its debt that it owes. What’s convoluted though is that Porsche currently owns more than 51 percent of VW, so it’s kind of the left hand giving money to the right. The money is much needed though, because Porsche was denied an application to get 1.75 billion euros in credit.
So after all the money shuffling, the end result is that the families that own Porsche, the Pieches and Porsches, would own half of the new VW-Porsche group, while the remaining shares are divided among the state of Lower Saxony, the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar and the general public.
Neither Porsche or VW have released any news though, so this may all be a head fake even though someone familiar with the talks are saying that the deal is likely. Hopefully, this saga comes to an end because I just want to see more great cars from Porsche!