Porsche finishes mandatory offerAcceptance period for Volkswagen shareholders expired – less than one percent of shares tendered
Stuttgart. The acceptance period for the mandatory offer made by Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, Germany, to the shareholders of Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg, Germany, expired on Tuesday, May 29. 172,218 ordinary shares and 68,262 preference shares – well under one percent of all VW shares – were tendered for sale to Porsche. Porsche’s stake in Volkswagen exceeded the 30 percent threshold on March 28, 2007, thus triggering the mandatory offer, as required by law. “Given that the current stock exchange price is higher than the offer price, the result was as expected. With the increase of our stake to over 30 percent, we have already achieved our objective of further strengthening our traditionally close relationship with Volkswagen. Along with our planned corporate restructuring, this gives Porsche an excellent position for the future,” said Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking, Chief Executive Officer of Porsche. Porsche plans to finance the acquisition of the tendered Volkswagen shares from its existing cash resources.
The completion of the mandatory offer is, amongst others, subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities and is not expected to occur prior to the end of June. As a next step, Porsche will seek the approval of its shareholders for the already announced corporate restructuring . This includes a hive-down of Porsche AG’s operational business into a wholly-owned subsidiary and converting Porsche, which by then will be operating as a holding company, into a European corporation, “Societas Europaea (SE)“. In this context, Porsche’s Managing Board has invited all shareholders to an Extraordinary General Meeting on June 26, 2007, in the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart.
GO
04.06.2007