By Christoph Rauwald
FRANKFURT--Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) said Wednesday it will take
over in August the remaining 50.1% stake in Porsche Automobil
Holding SE's (PAH3.XE) sportscar unit it doesn't already own for
4.46 billion euros in cash plus one common share, as the two German
auto makers hammered out an accelerated deal to reap more cost
synergies faster.
"The unique Porsche brand will now become an integral part of
the Volkswagen Group--that is good for Volkswagen, good for Porsche
and good for Germany as an industrial location," Volkswagen Chief
Executive Martin Winterkorn said in a statement.
Winterkorn also became CEO of Porsche's holding company after
Porsche's ill-fated attempt to take over the much larger Volkswagen
collapsed in 2009. After a fierce power struggle that raged for
more than two years, Porsche finally had to agree to a deal under
Volkswagen's leadership as its debt ballooned in the wake of the
financial crisis.
Volkswagen, Europe's largest auto maker by sales volume, agreed
at the time to pay EUR3.9 billion for a 49.9% stake in Porsche's
sportscar business as part of a complex deal to bail out the
holding company. Volkswagen and Porsche also granted each other
options to integrate the remaining 50.1% into Volkswagen at a later
stage, if a full-fledged merger including Porsche's holding company
failed to be finalized by the end of 2011. The two companies had to
abandon the plan last year due to legal obstacles.
"Combining their operating businesses will make Volkswagen and
Porsche even stronger--both financially and strategically,"
Winterkorn said.
"We can now cooperate even more closely and jointly leverage new
growth opportunities in the high-margin premium segment," he
said.
Write to Christoph Rauwald at christoph.rauwald@dowjones.com