Qatar to Get Only One VW Board Seat

The last ditch move made by Porsche to enforce an outside presence on Volkswagen's board of management will not lead to much for now, as the outside investor, Qatar Holding, will only get one seat on the supervisory board of the German carmaker.

"Qatar will get one seat at the regular supervisory meeting in spring 2010 but in the medium term it could get a second one," a source close to the discussion was quoted as saying by Reuters.

According to a report by German monthly Manager Magazin, the Qatar fund will try and get two seats as soon as they raise their stake in the manufacturer to 17 percent. According to the Reuters source, who is reportedly close to the government of Lower Saxony, one of the VW shareholders, Ferdinand Piech opposes such an outcome and is only willing to give up one seat.

The stake is high, as more than one seat given to Qatar, combined with the ones held by the German state, would mean that Volkswagen's owning families lose control of the carmaker. Out of the 20 board seats, half are reserved for labor representatives.

In mid-August, Porsche sold its quota of VW shares to the Qatar fund for barely more than half the current price of the respective stock. Porsche announced at the time it is selling assets worth billions of euros to Qatar as a way to come back on track. The agreement between the two stated Qatar would pay in excess of 7 billion euros for a 10 percent voting stake in Porsche plus most of the German sports car maker's cash-settled options.