The Porsche Wars: Outsiders Are Welcomed

The not so obvious fight between Porsche and Volkswagen is not even close from being over, yet one of the parties involved is already planning the future of the joint company. Having the advantage of being a state authority, Lower Saxony, through the voice of Christian Wulff, a spokesman for the state's prime minister, has opened the doors to all those who want a piece of the action.

According to the spokesman, Lower Saxony is opened to outside investors to come into the new company.

"At the end of the day it could look like this: Porsche owns 50 percent, Lower Saxony 20 percent and free float investors 30 percent. There is room for plenty of investors. The role of Lower Saxony will remain unchanged," Christian Wulff was quoted as saying by Autonews.

The state of lower Saxony currently holds the second largest number of shares after Porsche. By law, Wulff has veto power in all of Volkswagen's decisions. In his opinion, the future company should be structured as the Volkswagen Group is currently organized.

The outside investors variant surfaced after rumors about some Middle East-based sovereign wealth funds eyeing Volkswagen and Porsche started appearing. Although not confirmed by neither parties involved, today's statement may pave the way for the respective funds.

The statement made by the spokesman certify once again that the talks between the two companies will continue, despite the fact that Volkswagen halted talks yesterday, due to fears that Porsche is not ready for the merger, as VW claimed.

"We recognized at the end of the week that Porsche is lacking several fundamental conditions for the discussions," a Volkswagen spokesman said yesterday.