Wednesday July 15, 01:43 PM
Porsche, VW 'to hold side-by-side board meetings'
FRANKFURT (AFP) - Volkswagen (Xetra: 766400 - news) , the biggest European carmaker, said on Wednesday it would hold a special board meeting next week coinciding with one by its main shareholder, Porsche (Xetra: POR3.DE - news) , in a context of restructuring talk.
The meetings will both be held in the southwestern city of Stuttgart.
"A meeting of the supervisory board has been called for July 23 in Stuttgart," a VW spokesman told AFP, while declining to comment further.
Porsche is based in Stuttgart, while VW's home is in northern Wolfsburg.
The Porsche board is due to discuss an offer by Qatar for a major stake in the car company and VW stock options held by Porsche but has downgraded a discussion on an offer from VW, a press report said on Wednesday.
Porsche's supervisory board has placed the question of a Qatari investment under the heading "decision," while the VW bid is listed under "information," the popular daily Bild reported.
The two meetings nontheless suggest Porsche and VW might unveil a resolution to a ongoing boardroom battle in which their dominant forces, the Porsche and Piech families, have striven to gain the upper hand.
Porsche currently owns 51 percent of VW and tried to increase that holding to 75 percent, but succeeded only in racking up debt of around nine billion euros (12.5 billion dollars).
The much larger VW has since made a counteroffer for 49 percent of Porsche, which is controlled by the two families.
Ferdinand Piech, a grandson of Porsche founder Ferdinand Porsche, is also head of VW's supervisory board.
Uncertainty over Porsche's future has fueled tension between a union official and the German state of Lower Saxony, where Wolfsburg is located.
Regional premier Christian Wulf "wants to harm Porsche so Volkswagen can buy us cheaply," union leader Uwe Hueck, who is close to the Porsche management, claimed in the German weekly Focus' online edition on Wednesday.
"He wants to put us in a tight spot and is playing with jobs to do so," Hueck added.
Lower Saxony owns 20 percent of the shares in VW and with that holds a blocking majority under a disputed law drafted specifically for the carmaker.
A statement issued by Lower Saxony's government spokesman Olaf Glaeseker shot back: "Uwe Hueck obviously is afraid of losing his privileges. Otherwise it is impossible to understand his argument and erroneous charges."
Glaeseker denied Hueck's accusation that Lower Saxony had tied to prevent Porsche from obtaining state credits, and said Wulf had helped the company get a 700-million-euro loan from VW.
Hueck, who heads the Porsche works council, has launched a petition demanding the Porsche and Piech families guarantee Porsche's independence and take in an outside investor.
That could block VW's bid, but a council statement said the two families must honour their promise that "Porsche is not for sale."
Porsche says its goal is to form a fully integrated group with VW.
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