Guessing game
May 11, 2009
Managers, lawyers and consultants from Volkswagen and Porsche began meetings on Monday to discuss ways to bring the two German carmakers together into an integrated auto group, German press agency DPA reported, adding that it was still too early for talk among top executives.
The two automakers have said they hope to be in a position to present a final merger plan by early-June, dpa reported. Many analysts have recently said negotiations will have to address a number of touchy subjects before a deal can be announced.
"It's not really clear how they will construct [the new company]," Juergen Pieper from Metzler Bank told the AFP news agency.
Contentious questions
When company executives outlined merger plans on May 6, they knew questions about where the resulting auto group would be based, who owns how much of the carmakers and who runs the company's operations would be among the most contentious issues up for negotiation.
"It is not a marriage made in heaven, but a marriage of convenience," Porsche boss Wendelin Wiedeking told the luxury sports carmaker's workers May 7.
German media have reported that the new auto group is considering setting up its headquarters in either Wolfsburg, where VW is currently based, or Hannover, the capital of the state of Lower Saxony, which is a major Volkswagen shareholder.
Porsche officials, however, said on Monday that the location of the future carmaker's headquarters remained uncertain. Porsche is based in the southern German city of Stuttgart.
Even more important than where the offices are located is who will land in the VW-Porsche driver's seat. In addition to VW Chairman Martin Winterkorn and Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking, weekly news magazine Focus reported the possibility that a "neutral" manager could take over.
Fresh start after long-running feud
Audi boss Rupert Stadler is also being eyed for the top VW-Porsche position, the magazine said, adding that he could represent a fresh start for Porsche and Volkswagen as a confidant of the Porsche and Piech families - who own Porsche - and is also supported by Lower Saxony Premier Christian Wulff, who control's the state's 20 percent stake in VW, and Volkswagen's Ferdinand Piech.
The two carmakers have a long history of competition and strife due to personal and professional relationships among their founders, heads and supervisory board members. Porsche racked up some nine billion euros in debt trying to takeover VW, Europe's largest automaker and a company about 15 times larger than the luxury car firm.
Porsche spokesman Albrecht Bamler said company officials had not yet discussed who would head the company.
The Porsche and Piech families would own between 45 percent and 55 percent of the merged company's shares while Lower Saxony would have 21 percent to 25 percent, Germany's Der Spiegel magazine reported.
Plans to merge Porsche and Volkswagen into a single auto group would have to be approved by supervisory boards and shareholders at both companies. If all involved agree to the deal, the resulting supervisory board would be responsible for naming the group's boss.