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Wants to take the luxury brand public:
Porsche boss and new boss of the VW group
Oliver Blume
Photo: ANDREAS GEBERT / REUTERS
"The contracts are fixed, all shareholders are on board," said a person familiar with the preliminary talks from the Reuters news agency on Monday evening.
The supervisory board still has to officially give the go-ahead.
The control panel should discuss this on Monday evening.
Volkswagen declined to comment.
If the decision is made as expected, Volkswagen will be able to drum up publicity for one of the largest IPOs in Europe in recent years.
It is planned to place up to 25 percent non-voting preferred shares, 12.5 percent of the total capital, in Porsche AG on the stock market.
Whether the IPO, worth billions, will ultimately be realized despite the turbulence on the financial markets depends on how much interest the shares attract from investors.
Critics had warned Volkswagen against an IPO in uncertain times.
The major shareholder of the Wolfsburg car group, the family holding company Porsche SE, wants to acquire 25 percent plus one share of the voting ordinary shares in the earnings pearl Porsche AG.
Porsche SE is to pay a premium of 7.5 percent on the price of preferred shares for the purchase of the shares.
With the transaction, the owner families Porsche and Piech regain direct access to Porsche AG, which they lost to Volkswagen after the takeover battle ten years ago.
After the transaction, Volkswagen holds 75 percent minus one share in the total capital of Porsche AG.
Shortly before the expected decision, VW CFO Arno Antlitz confirmed the basic plan again.
"The examination and preparation is an essential part of my work and that of my team. This is progressing according to plan," said the manager on Monday in an internal publication.
According to reports, the decision could last until late in the evening.
After deciding on the billion-euro project, VW has four weeks
Volkswagen announced in February that it was examining a possible listing of 25 percent of the preferred shares on the stock exchange and the sale of ordinary shares to Porsche SE.
If the decision for the billion-euro project is made on Monday, the company has about four weeks to approach analysts and investors and drum up the publicity for the share placement.
The IPO is intended to give Porsche more freedom of movement and the parent company Volkswagen cash and a higher market value.
The manager magazin had already reported in June
about the tight schedule of the IPO and how everything ultimately depends on the employees and the head of the works council,
Daniela Cavallo (47).
One of the largest IPOs in Europe
If the Porsche non-voting preferred shares attract sufficient interest despite the weak market environment, this would be one of the largest IPOs in Europe in recent years.
Analysts assumed that Porsche AG would be valued at between 60 and 85 billion euros.
Business circles, however, consider this to be too high and expect a discount, also in view of the gloomy forecasts for the sector.
For comparison, valuations of luxury automakers like Aston Martin and Ferrari have fallen nearly two-thirds and one-third respectively so far this year.
The German Association of the Automotive Industry recently cut its forecast for car sales in Europe and the USA.
Things are going better in China.
According to the key points for the IPO published in February, the share capital of Porsche AG is to be divided equally into preferred and common shares.
Up to 25 percent of the non-voting preference, i.e. 12.5 percent of the total capital, is to be placed on the capital market.
Porsche SE is to acquire the ordinary shares at the price of the preference shares plus a premium of 7.5 percent.
They are expected to fund part of it through the multi-billion dollar special payout agreed as part of the IPO and will also raise additional debt.
A sale of Volkswagen shares is considered unlikely.
The stock exchange plans were announced by the old VW boss
Herbert Diess
(63).
It would be implemented by his successor
Oliver Blume
(54), who has been in charge of the group since the beginning of September, but at the same time will continue to manage Porsche AG.
At the start at the top of VW, he had announced a further expansion of e-mobility.
In addition, the Group Management Board, which was significantly enlarged during the Diess period, is to be reduced again – by a quarter from the last twelve to nine members in the future.
He eliminates the departments of purchasing and sales and takes on even more responsibility than before.
Purchasing board member
Murat Aksel
(50) and sales manager
Hildegard Wortmann
(55) remain brand board members at VW and Audi.
dri/Reuters, dpa
