Tagged Wiedeking

Porsche Raided on Insider Trading Suspicions in Germany

wiedeking
by Stefan Theil

Porsche headquarters were raided by German investigators Thursday due to suspicions of insider trading by former CEO Wendelin Wiedeking, who was ousted last month following an epic takeover battle in which the luxury carmaker almost swallowed Volkswagen─Europe’s largest carmaker, which is more than 10 times Porsche’s size─before VW turned the tables. It is now set to gobble up Porsche instead.

In trying to buy up Volkswagen, Wiedeking had accumulated 43 percent of VW’s shares but secretly held options on another 32 percent. Porsche did not disclose the options until October 2008, roiling the markets. The company said yesterday that the trades were perfectly legal under German law.
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Macht appointed Chairman of the Board of Management for Porsche AG

Macht
Stuttgart. Today the Supervisory Board of Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Stuttgart, together with Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking and Holger P. Haerter agreed upon their dismissal. Both Members of the Board of Management will leave Porsche SE and Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG with immediate effect, but will provide advice to both companies (make themselves available for serving both companies as consultants) as wished by the Supervisory board. Both resign from their respective seats at the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG and Audi AG.
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Tables Turn in Porsche’s Pursuit of VW

By CARTER DOUGHERTY
Published: June 19, 2009 NY Times

FRANKFURT — When Wolfgang Porsche learned that his family’s sports car company would need an emergency cash infusion from its giant rival Volkswagen, he “went absolutely white.”

“It was as though he’d heard someone died,” said one person briefed on the secret meeting between executives of the two companies.

The meeting, at the offices of the governor of Lower Saxony state, where Volkswagen is based, effectively ended the company’s audacious bid for Europe’s largest automaker. It also was the beginning of the end of Porsche’s cherished independence.

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Porsche increases its VW Stake to 35.14 per cent

Acquisition of Further Volkswagen Shares Completed

Stuttgart. Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Stuttgart, acquired a further 4.89 per cent of the Volkswagen ordinary shares on Tuesday, 16 September. As a result, the total stake in the Wolfsburg-based car manufacturer now amounts to 35.14 per cent of the voting rights. This step ensures that Porsche has a lasting majority at the VW annual general meeting. Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking, Chief Executive Officer of Porsche, said: “Our goal continues to be to increase our stake in Volkswagen to more than 50 per cent. Today’s step is a further milestone along this road.” He added: “We look forward to continuing and intensifying our cooperation with the Managing Board of Volkswagen, which is based on a spirit of mutual trust, and are hoping for a quick resolution of the conflict between the employee representatives of Porsche and VW.”

By going above 35 per cent of the voting rights, Porsche will acquire de facto control of the Wolfsburg-based group. As a result, employee representatives of Volkswagen will now take seats in the Works Council of Porsche SE and the Supervisory Board of Porsche SE. The Works Council of Porsche SE will be informed about the increase of the stake and will be asked to reconstitute itself. Dr. Wiedeking was confident that the cooperation between the employee representatives of Porsche and Volkswagen in both bodies – Works Council and Supervisory Board – would help them develop a better understanding of each other’s positions and would lead to a constructive and forward-looking co-existence.

As a result of the new shareholder structure, Porsche is required by law to submit a formal mandatory offer for the VW subsidiary Audi AG, Ingolstadt. The relevant offer documents must be filed with the German Federal Agency for Financial Services Supervision (BaFin) within the next four weeks and, once cleared, can be found on the website of Porsche SE at http://www.Porsche-SE.com. This formality is a statutory requirement and has no effect whatsoever on the intentions of Porsche. Dr. Wiedeking commented: “We regard Audi as an integral part of the Volkswagen group and have no interest in removing the company from the group structure.“

In light of this, Porsche will only offer the minimum price prescribed by law for the shares, which is expected to be about 487 Euro per Audi share. Volkswagen has stated that it will not be accepting the offer for its 99.14 per cent of the Audi shares. In practice, therefore, the mandatory offer only relates to a freefloat of 0.86 per cent, representing approximately 370,000 Audi shares. Based on last Monday’s closing price, these are valued at approximately 170 million Euro. Porsche does not intend to acquire Audi shares outside the mandatory offer.

On 3 March 2008 the Supervisory Board of Porsche SE had given the go-ahead for an increase of the VW stake to more than 50 per cent. All steps needed under regulatory and antitrust laws in order to acquire a majority stake in Volkswagen were then initiated. Following discussions with the EU Commission, Porsche extended its filing with the European antitrust authorities to cover agreements for the acquisition of 4.89 per cent of the VW ordinary shares, delivery of which took place today. Porsche expects the antitrust and regulatory proceedings that are still pending to be completed in the coming weeks. The further increase of the stake in Volkswagen is expected to take place in the next months.

(source Porsche SE)