Porsche valued at 75 billion euros for its IPO

The German manufacturer of luxury cars Porsche goes public on Thursday, September 29 at a share price that values ​​it 75 billion euros, signing one of the biggest stock market operations in Frankfurt despite a gloomy context.

The action was placed by the parent company, the giant with 12 brands Volkswagen, at an introductory price of 82.50 euros, the company said Wednesday evening in a press release.

This price is at the top of the previously announced range between 76.50 and 82.50 euros per share.

The first quotation of the title is expected Thursday around 07:15 GMT.

Strong demand for the stock

," Volkswagen chief financial officer Arno Antlitz said in a statement.

To seduce the Stock Exchange, the manufacturer of the legendary 911 has bet on its insolent financial health, like the entire luxury automobile sector, and on an almost century-old history which has made it a benchmark for sports cars "made in Germany". ".

The issue volume of 9.4 billion euros makes it the second largest IPO in Germany after that of Deutsche Telekom in 1996 and the largest in Europe since 2011 with the Swiss giant of raw materials Glencore.

If Volkswagen has ultimately placed only 12.5% ​​of the capital of its nugget on the stock market, the second largest automotive group in the world intends to derive billions of cash to inject into its costly transition to the electric and autonomous car.

Porsche displays on the starting line a higher capitalization than other German giants such as BMW (47 billion euros) and Mercedes-Benz (58 billion euros) which sell far more cars than the Zuffenhausen firm, nearly from Stuttgart (south).

“Now is not the best time for an IPO”

The operation is all the more exceptional since, in recent months, IPOs have been rare in Europe in an environment marked by inflation, rising interest rates and the war in Ukraine.

The Dax index on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange has lost nearly a quarter of its value since the start of the year, with the automotive sector, struggling in terms of sales, being particularly neglected.

said German automotive expert Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, who however sees it as a test of

.

Volkswagen has secured the support of key shareholders in Porsche such as the public investment funds of Qatar and Abu Dhabi, the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund and the American asset manager T. Rowe Price.

Together, they will hold nearly 3.6 billion euros in preferred shares, with Qatar accounting for the largest share.

The company's outlook has a lot to do with it: Porsche has raised its operating margin target to a range of between 17 and 18% and turnover should grow by 11 to 14% compared to 2021. Porche is evolving within the a luxury car sector that is expected to

, according to analysts at Berenberg.

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The multiple winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans brand is converting its range to electric, with the sports "Taycan" born in 2019 and of which nearly 20,000 copies have been sold from January to June, a new electric "Macan" SUV expected in 2024 and the launch of another mid-decade SUV.

Porsche currently belongs 100% to the Volkswagen group, itself controlled by the Porsche SE holding company, treasure of the Porsche and Piëch families who will strengthen their base through this IPO.

In addition to the so-called preferential shares - without voting rights - that investors have snapped up, Volkswagen will sell 25% of the capital plus one share to Porsche SE, which will have a blocking minority in the sports car manufacturer.

Volkswagen will collect a total windfall of around 19 billion euros, half of which will be used for investments in electricity with six battery cell factories planned in Europe and software for electric and autonomous vehicles.

The Wolfsburg group, whose title has lost 23% since January, also hopes that the partial sale of Porsche will inflate its stock market value by some 84 billion euros, a fraction of what its American rival Tesla weighs. valued around $900 billion.