D he IPO of the truck division of Volkswagen should become one of the largest new issues in Germany ever. When asked if he actually with an issue proceeds of about six billion euros, VW Truck CEO Andreas Renschler told the “manager magazin”: “That might be a bit more.”
The exact timing of an initial public offering depends, like the amount of shares possibly offered for sale, on the mood on the financial market. The plan is to jump on the floor currently for the summer of 2019, about 25 percent of the shares are to be sold.
Volkswagen’s truck and bus division, which is to be called the Traton Group in the future, includes truck builders MAN and Scania, the commercial vehicle business in Brazil and the mobility brand RIO. Volkswagen had converted the division into a stock corporation in June and thus made it capital marketable. For fall then the second conversion into a public limited company of European law (SE) is planned, said Renschler. The proceeds from a share sale flowed to the owner Volkswagen. But the group could strengthen the equity structure of the subsidiary even before a sale of shares.
An IPO was also intended to facilitate the further expansion of the division, said Renschler. VW wants to form a world-leading truck and bus manufacturer. In the past it has already been made clear that this could increase its share in the American truck builder Navistar, for example. The partnership with Chinese manufacturer Sinotruk could also be expanded.
Within the new truck giant, the individual brands – as usual in the VW Group – should remain independent. Especially between MAN and Scania there had been friction for many years. Only Renschler, who came on board in 2015, was able to dispel the conflict between the self-confident sister brands and promote cooperation.
If Volkswagen actually collected more than six billion euros in the IPO of the truck division, it would be the second largest IPO in Germany after Deutsche Telekom. The Bonn-based group had taken the “T share” in 1996 around 10.6 billion euros. In second and third place are Deutsche Post and Infineon, both of which went public in 2000 and redeemed around six billion euros.