Emissions-heavy Porsche signals push for majority stake in VW

Emissions-heavy Porsche signals push for majority stake in VW - CFO

	Published : Fri, 27 Jul 2007 07:27 By : Agencies Print this Story

FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Porsche AG CFO Holger Haerter has signalled the high-performance car maker may look to raise its stake in Volkswagen AG to a majority one as part of a strategy to conform with new EU legislation on carbon emissions.

'We have secured several options to enable us to further increase our stake in VW if we deem it necessary,' Haerter told Financial Times Deutschland in an interview. 'Now we are prepared for anything,' he said.

As a comparatively small carmaker that sells mainly high-emission vehicles, Porsche could be hit by the new rules. But provided the planned legislation allows carbon emissions assessments to be made for the whole group, VW could help Porsche to reach its target.

The condition for this would be the full consolidation of VW, 'and that is only possible if we go above 50 per cent', Haerter added.

In a separate interview with Boersen-Zeitung, Haerter said Porsche has extended the horizon of its dollar hedging policy from three to six years, suggesting the car maker expects the dollar to remain under pressure.

'Our dollar positions are now secured up to 2013,' Haerter said.

'Until 2011, we are pretty much a 100 pct secured and after that 50 pct.'

He also indicated a higher dividend for Porsche's shareholders, based on the company's expectations of results coming in significantly higher than last year.

'If results come in as expected, we will certainly think about paying a dividend that is reasonable based on our previous dividend policy,' Haerter said.

frederik.richter@thomson.com

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Emissions-heavy Porsche signals push for majority stake in VW - CFO