Porsche Becomes VW Majority Owner, Takes Indirect Control of Scania

Porsche has increased its stake in Volkswagen to more than 50 percent which brings the German sports car manufacturer the majority owner role and indirect control over VW's properties. This means that Porsche is now in control of Scania, the Swedish truck maker Volkswagen currently owns with a stake of 69 percent, according to figures given by Autonews. Porsche now holds 50.76 percent of Volkswagen, the same source wrote, an increase of 8.16 points from the initial 42.6 percent it initially owned.

Reports claiming that Porsche plans to increase its Volkswagen stake circulated since the third quarter of 2008 but a massive boost in VW shares in October put on hold any potential transaction. Volkswagen shares price exploded from approximately 200 euros to nearly 1,000 euros in only a couple of weeks, a fact that forced Porsche to wait for the first months of 2009 in order to proceed with the transaction.

Considering that Porsche has now indirect control over Scania, the German carmaker “is required by Swedish law to make a mandatory takeover offer” as Autonews wrote, but the company has already stated that it has no interest in buying Scania shares. However, “it said it was not bound by pre-acquisition prices and was only obliged to offer the minimum price prescribed by law,” the aforementioned source added.

Volkswagen purchased the first stake in Scania in 2000 when it acquired Volvo's part in the truck manufacturer, raising the total owning to 36.4 percent in 2007. The German automaker finally purchased up to 69 percent remaining stakes in March 2008.