In 2011, Volkswagen acquired Porsche. Porsche was once considered a division of Volkswagen AG. In that sense, Volkswagen AG is the business that owns Porsche.
In This Article...
Automotive Group
- International Fleet of the Volkswagen Group the Volkswagen Group Vehicle Air Service
Industrial:
Automobile Industrial Motors
International:
- China’s Volkswagen Group India Volkswagen Group American Volkswagen Group Automotive Group of Australia Canadian Volkswagen Group Malaysian Volkswagen Group Brazilian Volkswagen Ireland Volkswagen Group Italian Volkswagen Group South African Volkswagen Taiwanese Volkswagen Group UK-based Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen AG, also known as the Volkswagen Group internationally and with its headquarters in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, is a multinational automobile manufacturer. The business creates, produces, and sells motorcycles, passenger and commercial vehicles, engines, and turbomachinery in addition to providing related services including financing, leasing, and fleet management. It held the title of largest carmaker in the world in 2016 and continued to hold it in 2017, 2018 and 2019, selling 10.9 million vehicles. For more than 20 years, it has consistently held the greatest market share in Europe. On the 2020 Fortune Global 500 list of the biggest businesses in the world, it came in at number seven.
In addition to selling passenger cars under the Audi, Bentley, Cupra, Lamborghini, Porsche, SEAT, Skoda, and Volkswagen names, the Volkswagen Group also sells motorcycles under the Ducati brand, light commercial vehicles under the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles name, and heavy commercial vehicles under the names of listed subsidiary Traton. The Automotive Division and the Financial Services Division are its two main divisions, and as of 2008, it had roughly 342 subsidiary businesses. FAW-Volkswagen and SAIC Volkswagen are two other significant joint ventures for Volkswagen in China. The business operates in about 150 nations and has 100 production sites spread across 27 nations.
In 1937, Volkswagen was established in Berlin and incorporated in Wolfsburg with the goal of producing the car that would come to be known as the Beetle. In the 1950s and 1960s, the company’s production increased significantly. It purchased Auto Union in 1965, which went on to build the first Audi vehicles after World War II. In the 1970s, Volkswagen introduced a new line of front-wheel-drive cars, including the Passat, Polo, and Golf, which went on to become its best-selling model. SEAT became Volkswagen’s first non-German brand when the corporation acquired a controlling interest in it in 1986. Volkswagen also gained ownership of Skoda in 1994, Bentley, Lamborghini, and Bugatti in 1998, Scania in 2008, and Ducati, MAN, and Porsche in 2012. Over the past ten years, the company’s operations in China have expanded significantly, making China its largest market.
Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft is a publicly traded business with secondary listings on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and SIX Swiss Exchange in addition to its principal listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, where it is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. Since 1988, it has been traded via American depositary receipts in the US; it is currently traded on the OTC Market. In 2013, Volkswagen ceased trading on the London Stock Exchange. 12.7% of the company’s shares are owned by the Lower Saxony government, giving it legally 20% of the voting rights.
Porsche
Porsche is a name that is closely associated with fast sports automobiles. The Volkswagen Group owns the German company, which has its headquarters in Stuttgart.
Ferdinand Porsche established Porsche in 1931, originally working on other people’s cars like the Volkswagen Beetle. The 356, which shared many design cues with the original Beetle, including its rear-mounted air-cooled four-cylinder engine, was the first Porsche vehicle built under its own brand following World War II. The rear-mounted air-cooled 911, which was created as a roomier, more powerful, and more comfortable replacement for the 356, debuted in 1963 and over the course of eight generations has grown to become one of the most recognizable sports cars in the entire world.
The Porsche and Piech families’ voting-share ownership has made the corporate structure somewhat of a soap opera over the years, which was exacerbated worse when Porsche and Volkswagen both attempted to acquire each other in the early 2000s. There were intricate arrangements regarding who owned what at various corporate levels, but in the end, Porsche AG was owned and run by Volkswagen AG in 2012. A resolution was reached to consolidate their production activities.
Porsche’s lineup of vehicles also includes the Boxster, Cayman, and Panamera performance sedan in addition to the legendary 911. With the 2002 release of the Cayenne and the 2014 debut of the more compact Macan, the brand entered the SUV market. With the Taycan’s introduction last year, Porsche has also entered the market for high-performance electric automobiles.
An iffy connection will conclude with a flotation.
A LONG WAIT IS OFTEN INVOLVED IN BUYING A NEW Porsche. Some purchasers now face additional delays as a result of a fire that broke out last week mid-Atlantic on a ship carrying 4,000 automobiles, including Porsches, from the stable of brands controlled by Volkswagen, as if limited production and distant dealers weren’t enough of a bottleneck.
Porsche the firm is similar to Porsche automobiles. After Porsche’s bold bid to acquire the much larger German firm in 2008, VW joined with the legendary sports car manufacturer, and talk of allowing investors to purchase a portion of the latter has been circulating nearly continuously ever since. Due to a VW rescue, Porsche’s near-bankruptcy was averted as a result of the mishap. As a result of the incident, Porsche became a fully owned subsidiary of VW in 2012. Another was that the holding company run by the aristocratic Piech and Porsche families, who are decedents of the founders of the sports car manufacturer, became VW’s largest shareholder.
Now more than ever, a parting of the ways appears imminent. Volkswagen and the holding company for the families claimed to be in “advanced discussions” regarding a Porsche initial public offering (IPO) on February 22nd.
Herbert Diess, the CEO of VW, could hardly wait for the spin-off to occur. He has been working to organize VW’s cumbersome lineup of ten different brands. He could do without the trouble of dealing with flashy Porsche, which has always thought of itself as superior than the competition. For instance, Porsche insisted on creating its own platform to support electric cars rather than sharing one with the other brands in the group to save money.
Ferrari is not Porsche. Its operating margin of over 15% is far lower than the 25% or so of the Italian company. But it performs far better than the rest of VW. Even though the group produced only 277,000 of the 11 million vehicles it produced in 2019 (before the pandemic and the accompanying chip bottleneck), it contributed 10% of group revenues and 25% of group operating profit. The Taycan, a battery-powered vehicle, demonstrates that it has an effective electrification plan that most other sports-car manufacturers do not. Porsche, according to banker Philippe Houchois of Jefferies, is worth between 60 and 90 billion euros. That amounts to more than EUR 109 billion, or half of VW’s current market capitalization.
The Piech and Porsche families, too? According to some estimations, if they hadn’t attempted the failed coup in 2008, their members would today be twice as wealthy. Additionally, in order to purchase Porsche stock, their holding company will need to obtain cash, maybe by selling some of their VW stock. However, as Mr. Houchois notes, they would at least reclaim a more direct share in the company that carries the family name. They may have been waiting for it, after all.
The headline for this piece was “Reverse gear” and it was located in the Business section of the print edition.
The wealthy Porsche and Piech family views its 53% ownership of Volkswagen as a key investment.
Despite market turbulence brought on by Russia’s war against Ukraine, VW intends to list the Porsche sports-car division.
After VW’s Porsche sports-car division is listed on the stock market, the wealthy Porsche and Piech families intend to maintain their controlling ownership of the Volkswagen Group.
Through their family investment company, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, the Porsche and Piech family owns a 53 percent stake in the Volkswagen Group.
According to Bloomberg Intelligence, Porsche SE intends to acquire a 25 percent blocking position in the anticipated Porsche IPO, which may fetch up to 90 billion euros ($99.1 billion).
According to Chief Financial Officer Johannes Lattwein on Tuesday, Porsche SE has a solid financial position and ample room to raise outside funding.
On a conference call with reporters, Lattwein stated that there are “no plans to lower the share in Volkswagen at this time.”
The IPO, the VW Group’s greatest strategic move in years, was being worked on by teams that were “very engaged,” he said.
Despite market instability brought on by Russia’s conflict against Ukraine, VW is still making plans to list the Porsche sports car division, one of VW’s major sources of profits.
The action is a part of VW’s aim to increase its market valuation and finance the largest transition in the industry to electric automobiles. It’s impossible to exclude out negative effects from the Ukrainian conflict on the IPO, according to Lattwein.
CEO Hans Dieter Poetsch, who is also the chairman of VW’s supervisory board, stated on the call that Porsche SE has “an great future ahead.”
“Cash flow is anticipated to increase even further, and the company can be expected to have both an attractive payout policy and an investment policy that is focused on the future.”
According to the agreement, the supply contracts between VW and Porsche would remain in effect, Poetsch added.
The Porsche and Piech families would be able to recover direct control over the sports car brand in what was formerly their family business under the present parameters of the IPO, which are still being negotiated.
The family would receive a 25 percent plus one share blocking minority holding under the proposed arrangement.
Lattwein said the Porsche and Piech families’ direct ownership of the brand would be financed in part by a special dividend VW had proposed.
ISIN
Porsche Automobil Holding SE is the sole largest shareholder of the Wolfsburg-based corporation, holding 53.3 percent of the company’s ordinary shares and 31.9 percent of its subscribed capital. Porsche SE sees itself as Volkswagen AG’s long-term anchor investment.
Ten companies, including Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, SKODA, SEAT, CUPRA, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Porsche, and Ducati, are part of the Volkswagen Group, which is made up of five different European nations. The Volkswagen Group also provides a wide range of financial services, such as fleet management, leasing, banking, and insurance activities for both customers and dealers.
Who owned Porsche before Volkswagen?
The German parliament passed various legislation in order to maintain control over the automobile sector after the government-owned Volkswagen turned privatized in 1960. These statutes essentially said that any shareholder holding more than 20% of the company (the government held 20.1%) could veto any proposed resolution. This safeguarded governmental power and eliminated the chance of a future hostile takeover.
Porsche SE, a German holding firm founded by Ferdinand Porsche’s family and with assets in the automotive sector, started buying shares of the Volkswagen Group in 2005. It continued until both it and the government had veto power, and by 2006, Porsche held 25.1% of the company.
After several years of stock building and denial of takeover intentions, Porsche SE stated in October 2008 that it had acquired 42.6% of VW shares with options on an additional 31.5%. It declared its intention to increase the percentage to 75%, which would enable it to record VW AG’s cash position on its own accounts.
A market short-squeeze was the outcome. The government declared it would not sell its 20.1%, which it still owned. There were very few shares left for anyone else once their shares were added to Porsche SE’s shares. As the short sellers rushed to cover, the price of each share shot up from roughly 200 to over 1,000 euros. Volkswagen soon rose to prominence and briefly held the title of most valuable company in the world.
Porsche SE had to absorb the cash difference between the market price and the sum it had promised to pay outstanding stockholders in order to carry out its plan.
The EU Court of Justice finally determined in October 2013 that a revised Volkswagen statute formally “complied in full” with EU regulations, designating Porsche SE as Volkswagen AG’s controlling shareholder.