Green light from the supervisory board: Porsche wants to go public in the fall

Created: 06/09/2022, 14:56

The VW subsidiary Porsche will go public this year.

This is provided for by a new decision by Volkswagen.

© Bernd Weißbrod/dpa

The Stuttgart sports car manufacturer Porsche will go public this year.

This emerges from a new decision by the parent company VW.

Wolfsburg/Stuttgart - The sports car manufacturer Porsche is scheduled to go public this year.

The VW parent company gave the green light for going onto the trading floor in Frankfurt am Main this year, as it was said late Monday evening.

The VW subsidiary Porsche is likely to use the proceeds to expand electromobility: by 2030, more than 80 percent of newly delivered vehicles should be fully electric.

The IPO, which had been aspired to for a long time, was decided by the VW board of directors “after intensive examination with the approval of the supervisory board”, as VW announced.

The aim is to debut "subject to the capital market environment" for the end of September or the beginning of October, and it should be implemented by the end of the year.

The Piëch and Porsche families regain access to Porsche through the IPO

The sports car brand is 100 percent owned by Volkswagen.

The second largest automaker in the world, in turn, is controlled by Porsche Automobil Holding SE, over which the Porsche and Piëch families have a 53.3 percent majority in Volkswagen.

The IPO would give the owner families access to Porsche again.

For the IPO, Porsche's share capital was divided equally into preference shares and ordinary shares.

The types of shares are traded at different prices, and only those who own ordinary shares have voting rights at the general meeting.

On the other hand, preference shares usually pay higher dividends.

Porsche boss Blume: "Historical moment"

It is now planned that up to 25 percent of the preference shares can be acquired by investors, not only institutional investors but also private investors in Germany and other European countries.

Porsche Automobil Holding SE would then acquire 25 percent plus one of the ordinary shares in Porsche AG from Volkswagen AG.

If the IPO is successful, an extraordinary general meeting is planned for the end of the year, at which there could be a special dividend.

Porsche AG welcomed the step.

Company boss Oliver Blume, who also took over the chairmanship of the VW Group in September, spoke of a "historic moment for Porsche".

An IPO would open "a new chapter with greater independence".

Porsche is now preparing “at full speed” for the IPO.

Expert: IPO may be "too late"

Car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer expressed his fundamental doubts as to whether the IPO was "too late" given the difficult market environment.

"The high-interest phase will not be over in two years," argued the head of the CAR Institute in Duisburg.

"The same applies to the major recession that is to be expected in Europe." Added to this is the weak euro.

In any case, "hurry is the order of the day".

Porsche is considered the most valuable of the VW brands.

The sports car manufacturer went to VW almost ten years ago after the lost takeover battle.

Volkswagen combines a total of twelve brands under its roof - in addition to the core brand VW and Porsche, these also include Audi, Seat and Skoda.