Porsches VW Bid

Porsche will become Europe's largest car and truck manufacturer tomorrow when its holdings in Volkswagen are taken to 30.9%. Porsche have exercised an option to take an extra 3.6% stake in VW, which will raise its total stake above 30% and trigger a mandatory take over offer.

Porsche plans to launch a £24 billion offer, £67.81 per share. Volkswagen sells 60 times more cars than Porsche and has sales of £68 billion against Porsche's £4 billion. Porsche said that it was not seeking a majority of Volkswagen shares but few doubt that is its ultimate objective.

Porsche's investment in Volkswagen now totals about £3.4 billion but gives it control over an empire ranging from Volkswagen, Skoda and Seat to luxury brands such as Lamborghini, Bugatti and Bentley.

Porsche's takeover will also give them a say over the creation of what could be Europe's largest truck manufacturer, as VW is the biggest share holder in both Sweden's Scania and Germany's MAN.

Ferdinand Piech, who is a controlling share holder in Porsche and Volkswagen's supervisory board chairman, is also the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who created the Volkswagen Beetle and founded Porsche.

Ferdinand Porsche (September 3, 1875 - January 30, 1951) was an Austrian automotive engineer, born to German speaking parents in what is now part of the city of Liberec (or Maffersdorf in German) in the Czech Republic. Ferdinand Porsche is best known for designing the first and original Volkswagen Beetle. He also contributed to advanced German tank designs. Ferdinand Porsche's son, Ferry Porsche, is the eponym for Porsche automobiles.