UPDATE: Porsche CEO "Optimistic" Merger With VW Can Be Completed
17 Juin 2011 - 11:31AM
Dow Jones News
Porsche Automobil Holding SE (PAH3.XE) said Friday the plan to
merge with Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) still stands despite the
remaining obstacles and voiced optimism that related tax issues can
be resolved in the foreseeable future.
"Our clear, common goal is and remains the merger," Chief
Executive Martin Winterkorn said at the Stuttgart-based sports car
maker's annual general meeting, according to a prepared
statement.
"We are optimistic - despite the...hurdles that the merger can
work out," he added.
Porsche Chief Financial Officer Hans Dieter Poetsch said he was
optimistic that the tax issues related to a possible merger can be
clarified in the foreseeable future as German financial authorities
have completed a first draft for a required legal notice.
Poetsch said the company is continuing to prepare for the
planned deal. The regional court in Stuttgart has named
Duesseldorf-based Roelfs RP AG Wirtschaftspruefungesellschaft as
auditor for the merger. Poetsch added that Porsche plans an
extraordinary shareholder meeting mid-December where a decision
about the merger should be taken.
In April, Porsche raised around EUR4.9 billion in a capital
increase to cut debt below EUR1.5 billion ahead of a planned merger
with Volkswagen, Europe's largest automaker by sales. Porsche
initially tried to take over its much-larger peer, but the bold
plan backfired when credit markets dried up and the company's debt
ballooned.
Both Porsche and Volkswagen, which now are run by the same
management team, repeatedly stated in recent months that the plan
to forge a combined company still stood, even if the deal couldn't
be completed in 2011 as initially planned.
The prospects of the merger were thrown into doubt earlier this
year when Porsche announced that the merger would be less likely if
the related legal and tax issues were to drag on longer than
expected. Investigations into alleged market manipulation by
prosecutors in Germany and a similar lawsuit in the U.S. are
ongoing and aren't likely to be finalized by the end of this
year.
Volkswagen bought a 49.9% stake in Porsche's core sports car
unit at the end of 2009 and holds options to acquire the remaining
50.1% between Nov. 15, 2012, and Jan. 31, 2015. But Porsche's
holding company could remain a separate entity until all tax and
legal issues are resolved.
-By Christoph Rauwald, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 512;
christoph.rauwald@dowjones.com
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