After months of testing makes Volkswagen Nailed it down: The board of directors and the supervisory board want to discuss a possible IPO for the sports car subsidiary on Monday Porsche AG at the end of September/beginning of October, as Volkswagen announced on Saturday. At the same time, the approval of the sale of 25 percent plus one share of the ordinary shares in Porsche AG to the major shareholder of the Wolfsburg car group, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, should be discussed. There are advanced discussions about this, according to a separate statement from Porsche SE.
Through Porsche SE, the Porsche and Piëch families hold the majority in Europe’s largest car group, which in turn includes Porsche AG as a subsidiary. With the multi-billion dollar sale of the shares in the sports car manufacturer, the families would get a blocking minority in Porsche AG. Important decisions could not be made without them.
If both companies agree on this acquisition of shares, an IPO of Porsche AG would then depend, among other things, on the development of the stock market as a whole, Porsche SE announced.
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.
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 published its forecast for car sales in Europe and the United States cut. In China it’s going better
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 from the multibillion-dollar special payout agreed as part of the IPO, and incur 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 Executive Board, which was significantly enlarged during the Diess period, is to be reduced again – by a quarter of what it was last twelve to nine members in the future
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