German carmaker Volkswagen has bought 49.9 percent of Porsche for 3.9 billion euros and announced ambitious targets to complete the purchase of the luxury brand by 2011 and unseat Japan's Toyota as the world's leading carmaker by 2018.
The financial crisis proved costly for German luxury carmaker Porsche, whose sales figures from the 2008-2009 financial year mark a drop of nearly 25 percent. A failed bid to take over fellow German carmaker and rival Volkswagen added to the damage.
German car maker Porsche said on Thursday that its headquarters had been raided by German prosecutors that morning as part of an insider trading investigation. Porsche denies the allegations.
German car maker Porsche was forced to sell assets worth billions of euros to Qatar in a move to prop up its strained finances, marking a climbdown for a predator that had once sought to dominate Volkswagen.
Porsche have reported that they expect the merger with Volkswagen to have a negative impact on its pre-tax profits in the 2008-2009 fiscal year. The German sports car manufacturer forecast a loss of up to 5 billion euros.
According to a Financial Times report, European biggest automaker Volkswagen could raise capital of up to four billion euros to protect its credit ratings from falling as the company finances its upcoming takeover of Porsche.
Volkswagen vowed on Thursday to take over fellow German auto maker Porsche, whose chairman Wendelin Wiederking resigned earlier in the day. VW also plans to overtake Toyota by 2018.
Porsche has announced the resignation of its chairman Wendelin Wiederking with 'immediate effect'. Wiederking is set to receive a severance package worth 50 million euros. Separately, the automaker has received the go-ahead for the Qatar deal.
German car maker Porsche could be close to clearing a large part of its debts if Qatar confirms its intention to buy a seven billion euro stake in the company, as the German newspaper Der Spiegel reports.
