Porsche CEO: "We’re All Set To Take Over VW"

Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking confirmed in an interview he gave to the Sunday Times (Oct 14, 2007) that his company is prepared to take control of VW, if Germany’s so-called “Volkswagen law” is ruled illegal next week (October 23) by the European Court of Justice.

“I believe they will write it off. And if they do, we will look at what makes sense,” Wiedeking told Sunday Times. “We already have a lot of options to purchase shares at less than their current price. We are prepared.”

Germany’s so-called ‘Volkswagen law’, was introduced to guard against hostile takeover when the present company was transferred to German control by the British after the second world war. The law prevents any one shareholder from exercising more than 20% of the voting rights and gives both the federal government and the state of Lower Saxony the right to two seats on Volkswagen’s supervisory board. -Continued after the jump

Porsche's intentions became more than clear when in March, 2007, the company acquired a 31% stake in Volkswagen, the world’s fourth-largest carmaker. And the outcome was more than positive as Wiedeking smugly pointed out in his interview to the Sunday Times: “We paid €5 billion for 31% of Volkswagen and now that stake is worth €16-€17 billion. Not a bad investment, eh?”. You're damn right...

Via: Sunday Times