"The negotiations have entered the final stretch,' a Porsche spokesman was quoted as saying by Autonews.
"The due diligence has reached a positive conclusion," he added, also saying that Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has finished looking through the manufacturer's books. Hussein al Abdullah, QIA CEO declined to comment on the matter.
Before a deal with Qatar is reached, Porsche is continuing its efforts in securing a government backed loan from state bank KfW, despite the fact that so far their attempts have been unsuccessful. To lift the pressure from the 9 billion euro it now has, Porsche has applied for a 1.75 billion euro loan. The company has last week re-applied its loan application and is now expecting an official reply from both KfW and the government.
Until new developments, the future merger plan with Volkswagen seems to have been put on hold. This left room for speculation that another German automotive giant, Daimler, may push for a stake buy in Porsche. Although officially Daimler has rejected such claims, they've not done so in a very convincing manner.
"If we wanted that, we would announce it," Dieter Zetsche, Daimler COE said after some reports surfaced in Manager Magazine. "Porsche is obviously integrated very closely in the activities of the VW Group. It does not appear to me to be sensible to think that this integration could be replaced with another," Zetsche added.
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