German luxury sportscar maker Porsche said yesterday that Qatar was negotiating with it as the exclusive candidate to buy a stake in the heavily-indebted company.
“We are currently speaking only with Qatar,” a Porsche spokesman said.
“The talks are marked by a good atmosphere,” he added, without providing details. “All variations are under discussion.”
Porsche is being crushed by ¤9bn ($12.5bn) in debt incurred when it tried to take over Volkswagen, the biggest European carmaker in which Porsche now holds a stake of 51 percent.
Porsche abandoned its bid to take full control of VW last month and the two car makers said they would discuss terms of a merger, but disagreements quickly surfaced between the Porsche and Piech families that control both companies.
No timeframe for further talks has been made public. “If the talks are continuing, it is in a confidential manner,” a VW
spokesman said.
“Our majority shareholder is negotiating with a new investor,” he noted. “For us, one thing is clear, any option that supports the goal of an integrated group with 10 brands, would be considered in a positive light.”
But, he added, “we are waiting to see what happens in Stuttgart,” the southwestern German home of Porsche, the spokesman said.
Qatar could buy shares in Porsche via a capital increase, or shares in VW by paying Porsche for stock options.
Investing in Porsche would allow the car maker to revive its original plan of taking over the much bigger VW.
AFP
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