BERLIN (Reuters) – Porsche took pole position as Europe’s most valuable automaker on Thursday, overtaking former parent Volkswagen as the price of the sportscar maker’s newly-listed shares sped higher.
Although Porsche shares had fallen below its listing price on Monday to 81 euros, in line with a wider fall in markets, they had risen to 93 euros ($91.95) at 1023 GMT, giving the sportscar brand a market valuation of 85 billion euros.
Porsche’s share price regained momentum after investment banks involved in its flotation had purchased almost 3.8 million shares for 312.8 million euros as part of the so-called greenshoe option, designed to support a listing.
The rise pushes Porsche’s valuation beyond Volkswagen’s 77.7 billion euros. Mercedes-BenzDE> comes in third among European carmakers with a 57.2 billion euro valuation, followed by with 47.5 billion euros and Stellantis with 39.7 billion.
“Inflation data from Europe and the United States, recent worries over energy supply in Europe and the escalation of the war in Ukraine last Thursday led to fluctuations which made small-scale stabilisation measures necessary,” a spokesperson for Volkswagen said.
The shares purchased between Sept 29. and Oct 4. represented around 11% of the total trading volume since the listing, the spokesperson added, consisting of around 34 million shares.
Overall, up to 14.85 million shares worth 1.2 billion euros are available via the greenshoe option in the four weeks after the offering as a stabilisation measure.
Bank of America acquired the shares for between 81 – 82.50 euros, compared to the original issue price of 82.50, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
($1 = 1.0114 euros)
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee in Berlin, Alexander Huebner in Munich; editing by Matthias Williams and Alexander Smith)
