FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Porsche SE is considering cutting its stake in Volkswagen to just above 50% of ordinary shares as one way to generate cash to buy into a potential stock market listing of Porsche AG, two people familiar with the matter said.
That way, Porsche SE, which is controlled by the Porsche and Piech family, could rake in around 2.2 billion euros ($2.5 billion) at current market prices without losing the majority of Volkswagen’s voting rights.
Such a move, which according to the sources is one funding option under discussion in addition to taking on debt, would help Porsche SE, Volkswagen’s top shareholder, to pay for the stake in Porsche AG it is set to get under the listing plans.
Under a framework agreement unveiled last week, Porsche SE will be able to buy 25% plus one ordinary share in a Porsche AG listing, which would cost around 12 billion euros assuming a 90 billion valuation.
A spokesperson for Porsche SE said that settling on a specific funding package made no sense at this stage since several parameters of the potential transaction, which still lacks a firm decision by the companies, are unclear.
“In principle, however, Porsche SE has great financing potential due to its excellent equity ratio and positive net liquidity. We have prepared rock-solid financing plans in order to be well-positioned for the IPO in different price scenarios.”
Volkswagen declined to comment.
Porsche SE currently holds 53.3% of Volkswagen’s common stock, which amounts to a 31.4% equity stake.
While Porsche SE stands to get 3.6 billion euros via a special dividend Volkswagen plans to pay from any planned listing of Porsche AG, it would still leave around 8 billion the holding group needs to pay for the rest.
($1 = 0.8952 euros)
(Reporting by Jan Schwartz and Christoph Steitz; Editing by Hans Seidenstuecker, Madeline Chambers)
