Porsche: More news on VW stake

It seems that Porsche's request to gain more shares in VW was granted by the German authorities yesterday. Porsche already owned 21.3%, this will now be increased to 25.1%.

The German cartel office on Friday said it approved sports car maker Porsche's request to increase its voting rights stake in Volkswagen to a theoretical blocking minority of 25.1 percent.

"The office has no competitive concerns," its president, Ulf Boege, said in a statement.

Under the so-called "VW Law", individual shareholders are not allowed to exercise more than 20 percent of their voting rights, although the EU Commission is in the process of contesting this in court.

Volkswagen declined to comment. Porsche could not be reached for a statement.

Late in June, Porsche said it had sought German antitrust authority clearance to raise its voting stake in Volkswagen from the nearly 21.3 percent in now holds since it expects the VW Law to be overturned.

"The Stuttgart company expects quick approval of the plan from the cartel authorities. As soon as this happens, Porsche could conduct the planned increase in its stake," it said at the time, adding it had not yet decided when it would boost its stake.

The overall investment would then total 3.5 billion euros

Porsche says its VW stake ensures stable ties with a company that supplies content for 30 percent of Porsche's sales volume. They cooperate on the Porsche Cayenne and VW Touareg offroaders, hybrid technology and Porsche's new four-door car due in 2009.

Related news: GermanCarBlog, P4MR, VW, Porsche

Source: Reuters, logos from Auto Motor und Sport

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