The battle over Porsche has stepped up a gear today (Tuesday 30th June) when the German sports car manufacturer rejected Volkswagen‘s bid to buy a 50% stake in the company for around 4 billion euros.

Porsche is reported to have debts of over 9bn euro but claimed a technicality - that Volkswagen‘s bid had been sent to the wrong address.

According to a Financial Times report "As Porsche fights its debt mountain, the manufacturer‘s family owners and its management and that of Volkswagen have resorted to public infighting over how to bail out the company."

Analysts are said to be concerned that the power struggles could inflict damage on both companies.

Volkswagen‘s second largest shareholder, the regional state of Lower Saxony, has urged both carmakers to end the row as soon as possible.


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The latest twist in the long-running saga involving German vehicle manufacturers Porsche and Volkswagen was reported by the Financial Times today. I read with interest, the news that the sports car maker‘s chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking is trying to 'woo' some Middle East investors.

According to the FT report, Wiedeking has held talks with several potential Middle East funders, some from Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, about taking a stake of up to 25% in the carmaker through a cash injection thought to be up to 4 billion Euro. Porsche is said to have amassed a 9 billion Euro debt.

It remains unclear whether the talks represent a bid to bolster Porsche‘s endangered independence that will enable it to walk away from the proposed merger with Volkswagen, or were aimed at strengthening the sports carmaker‘s position in further negotiations.


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The latest news in the 'will they won't they?' takeover saga is that the Porsche family have taken steps to resume talks with Volkswagen.

The move came as thousands of workers at the 'troubled' sports car manufacturer protested against VW boss Ferdinand Piech.

Porsche and Piech are expected to discuss getting stalled negotiations back into line, according to sources.

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Volkswagen has decided to cancel talks with Porsche regarding the potential merger of the two companies as public and industry opinion opposes the deal.

Volkswagen’s stakeholders have accused Porsche of being obstructive over the sports carmaker becoming the Volkswagen group's tenth brand. This deal had already been agreed a few weeks by the Porsche family.

A Volkswagen spokesman reported that there was ‘currently no atmosphere for constructive talks’ ahead of meetings initially scheduled for early this week.

Porsche owns more than 50 per cent of Volkswagen and was shelve its attempt to gain control of VW when the small matter of a 9 billion Euro debt burden put the brakes on the deal.