As planned, the German sports car manufacturer Porsche is taking over the majority of the Varta subsidiary of the Austrian investor Michael Tojner, V4Drive Battery. The ailing battery manufacturer Varta announced on Wednesday in Ellwangen, Swabia, that the contracts had been signed. The Volkswagen subsidiary Porsche is primarily concerned with access to large-format lithium-ion cells, such as those used in the hybrid drive of the 911 Carrera GTS.
Technically, entry should take place via a capital increase at V4Drive. It was not clear from the announcement how high the share should be. According to a statement from the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (BWB) this week, the figure is around 70 percent.
With Porsche, Varta wanted to gain “a long-term, strong partner for the further development and marketing of these cells,” explained the battery manufacturer. Porsche is V4Drive’s only significant customer. With the entry, the sports car manufacturer wanted to “make an important contribution to the preservation of key technologies in Germany,” said CFO Lutz Meschke in August.
Capital injection for ailing parent company
In order to save Varta, Porsche AG joins the parent company Varta AG as a second shareholder with a capital injection of 30 million euros. The contracts for this were signed on Monday.
The group, which had overtaken itself with an aggressive expansion course, is being relieved of its debts through a pre-insolvency restructuring process. The existing shareholders will lose their stake, only the previous majority shareholder Tojner and Porsche will subscribe to the new shares. Nevertheless, Varta shares rose by 17 percent on Wednesday morning after the news of Porsche joining V4Drive.
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