Thursday, October 22, 2009
VW to buy half of Porsche by 2010
Europe's largest carmaker, Volkswagen, has said it is to buy 49.9% of sports car maker Porsche by the end of 2009 for about 3.9bn euros (£3.54bn;$5.8bn).
In August VW and Porsche agreed the details by which VW will merge with its German compatriot by 2011.
VW had initially been set to buy a 42% stake in Porsche by the end of this year for 3.3bn euros.
The deal will end months of acrimony between the two firms, and would end Porsche's failed efforts to buy VW.
Funding failure
Over the past year Porsche built up major debts to get a 51% stake in VW, only to fall short of the required 75% when it could not raise more funds due to the impact of both the global credit crunch and the slump in global car sales.
Porsche's failure to buy VW saw the firm's former chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking and financial director Holger Haerter resign this summer.
Porsche is set to become the 10th brand in the VW family, joining the likes of Audi, Seat and Skoda.
DATED: 22.10.09
FEED: AW
