Volkswagen and Top Investor Head Towards Porsche IPO
Porsche AG could be valued at up to US$102 billion in an initial public offering (IPO).
Volkswagen and its biggest shareholder, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, have made plans to list Porsche. This could get lead to unlocking value from the luxury car brand and is tipped to be one of the world’s largest stock market debuts.
According to Reuters, Porsche AG could be valued at up to US$102 billion in an initial public offering (IPO). Volkswagen’s current market value stands at US$131 billion. In a recent report, Bloomberg says investors could be offered up 25 per cent of “non-voting shares” while the Porsche and Piech family — which control Porsche Automobil Holding SE — “buys a minority blocking stake”. The news outlet alleges this information comes from people close to the deliberations.
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It still unclear when this move is set to take place, however, experts estimating that the IPO could happen in the second part of the year. Bloomberg‘s source claims that the IPO “might include a special dividend to help the Porsche and Piech family, who own 53 per cent of VW voting shares, finance the transaction”.
Since this announcement, Volkswagen shares rose as much as 7.2 per cent while Porsche SE’s shares went up as much as 8.3 per cent.
At the time of writing, both Volkswagen and Porsche have yet to release a statement about the IPO. Volkswagen, however, has commented that a final decision had not been reached and that any deal that is to take place must first be approved by management and supervisory boards.
According to a Reuters source, “Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess presented a basic outline of the IPO plans to representatives of the supervisory board earlier this week following discussions on the matter over last weekend”. However, a supervisory board meeting that was planned for Tuesday was cancelled due to an overwhelming number of unresolved questions.
Porsche
Porsche is one of Volkswagen’s most iconic brands, alongside Audi, Skoda and Bentley. Ferdinand Piech was the mastermind behind creating the multi-brand structure we’re all familiar with today. Piech, who passed away aged 82 in 2019, was the CEO and Chairman of Volkwagen who finessed the takeover of Porsche — despite opposition from is cousin, Wolfgang Porsche.
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