The German car group Volkswagen has given the go-ahead for the IPO of the sports car subsidiary Porsche. The management board, with the approval of the supervisory board, decided to aim for an IPO for the preferred shares of Porsche AG and their listing on the regulated market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, VW announced yesterday evening. Volkswagen named the end of September/beginning of October as the time, but subject this to further developments on the capital market.
Volkswagen thus gave the green light to start one of the largest IPOs in Europe in recent years. Archyde.com had previously reported on the upcoming decision, citing an insider. This means that VW can now advertise to investors to buy the shares. Up to 25 percent of the non-voting preferred shares – that is 12.5 percent of the share capital – of Porsche AG are to be placed on the stock market in the next few weeks. It usually takes around four weeks from the official announcement to the first listing.
In the event of a successful IPO, Volkswagen intends to invite shareholders to an extraordinary general meeting in December 2022 to vote on a special dividend of 49 percent of the total proceeds from the placement of preferred shares and the sale of common shares to shareholders in early 2023. Whether the IPO, worth billions, will ultimately be realized despite the turbulence on the financial markets depends on whether and at what price investors are willing to buy Porsche shares.