VW takeover ? Are we all "posers ?"
Discussion
From The Sunday Times March 25, 2007
Porsche moves into fast lane to bid for giant Volkswagen.
THE makers of the poser’s car are set to take over the people’s car. Porsche, the German sports car company whose products are beloved by City bankers, yesterday launched a takeover bid for Volkswagen, famous for bringing the world the Beetle.
The move caps a long-running battle for control of VW, Europe’s biggest carmaker, which sells 5m cars a year in 150 countries, including nearly 200,000 in the UK.
It also controls several other well known car brands, including Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini and Bentley, the classic British car marque, and has the biggest presence in China of any western carmaker.
Porsche, by comparison, is a relative minnow, making just under 100,000 vehicles a year, one tenth of which are sold in Britain.
However, Porsche’s high prices — its top-of-the-range 911 sells for £95,000, compared with £26,000 for a top-of-the-range VW Golf — have made it highly profitable. It made £1.35 billion last year, nearly as much as VW.
Porsche has stalked the bigger company for the past year, gradually increasing its stake in the run-up to the expected repeal of a special law that protects VW from takeover.
The combination of the two companies will create a new German auto-motive powerhouse.
It will also reignite a debate over protectionism in Germany and France, where companies — and governments — have erected barriers to prevent foreign buyers from taking over leading companies.
A state law in Lower Saxony, where VW is based in the town of Wolfsburg, makes it almost impossible for outsiders to take control.
Bankers and analysts said last night that while Porsche would probably not end up owning all of VW, it would secure sufficient shares to control the larger company and provide an effective guarantee against another group making a rival offer in the future.
The two groups already have a long history of cooperation dating back to before the second world war. VW, founded in 1937, based the Beetle on designs by Ferdinand Porsche, the company’s founder.
Porsche’s coup was decided at a meeting of the company’s supervisory board in Stuttgart yesterday morning.
Directors decided to exercise an option that the company held more than 3.7% of VW shares, pushing its holding past the 30% threshold that triggers a mandatory takeover offer under German corporate law. Over the past year, Porsche had bought up 27.3% of VW.
Although details of the takeover will be announced later this week, Porsche said it expected to pitch its price at just under £68 per VW share — well below the current market price of £79.75. The offer will value VW at £27 billion.
The low offer is unlikely to tempt a majority of VW’s shareholders to sell out, but will probably see Porsche increase its holding significantly.
Porsche said it was not seeking an outright majority. Once the takeover offer was made it would be free to increase its holding further without again having to make a full bid, the company said.
Porsche said that while it wanted to work more closely with VW, it did not envisage a full amalgamation of the two companies’ operations. “Porsche will remain Porsche,” it said.
Martin Winterkorn, the new chief executive of Volkswagen, yesterday welcomed the Porsche approach. “A stable shareholder structure is very important for the long-term automobile business,” he said.
Sounds like the aurthor has been in a cryogenic chamber for anout 20 years and still thinks all Porsches are guards red 930 turbos driven by dealers with red braces
He also completely ignores the issue of who exectly designed the beetle, but I dont suppose you can expoect journalists to actually report factually
He also completely ignores the issue of who exectly designed the beetle, but I dont suppose you can expoect journalists to actually report factually
He does actually mention that.
"The two groups already have a long history of cooperation dating back to before the second world war. VW, founded in 1937, based the Beetle on designs by Ferdinand Porsche, the company’s founder."
But yes, you can usually expect a journalist to never allow the facts to get in the way of a good story.
"The two groups already have a long history of cooperation dating back to before the second world war. VW, founded in 1937, based the Beetle on designs by Ferdinand Porsche, the company’s founder."
But yes, you can usually expect a journalist to never allow the facts to get in the way of a good story.
runner911 said:
From The Sunday Times March 25, 2007
.....However, Porsche’s high prices — its top-of-the-range 911 sells for £95,000, compared with £26,000 for a top-of-the-range VW Golf ....
Hasn't the author of the article heard about the £73,770 Phaeton W12 then?? What an outstandingly well researched piece of journalism.
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