Volkswagen, the world’s second largest automotive group, gave the green light on Monday evening to list its subsidiary Porsche on the stock market for one of the largest listings ever in Europe, despite markets on a slippery slope.
The management board of Volkswagen “decided today, with the approval of the supervisory board”, to list the shares of its subsidiary Porsche AG “subject to further developments on the capital market” with a view to “implementing by the end of the year,” according to a press release from the group’s two decision-making bodies, which alternately held decisive meetings during the day.
The German manufacturer unveiled its project last winter, on February 24 exactly, the first day of the Russian army’s invasion of Ukraine.
The economic shocks that followed, especially on the stock markets, had cast doubt on the timing of this “IPO” – the listing of Porsche on the stock market.
The company from Zuffenhausen, near Stuttgart, is valued between 60 and 85 billion euros, according to Bloomberg.
Porsche is currently wholly owned by the Volkswagen Group. This in turn is controlled by a financial holding company, called Porsche SE, through which the Porsche-Piëch family holds an absolute majority of voting rights (approximately 54%).
At the same time, the authorities of VW approved the sale of “25% plus one share” of the “ordinary” shares of Porsche AG to the Porsche SE holding company.
In this way, the Porsche-Piëch clan will be able to hold a blocking minority and will still be able in the future to gradually increase its control in the family business launched by the engineer Ferry Porsche after the Second World War.