On Monday Porsche increased its stake in Volkswagen AG to 50.76 per cent, after securing a deal to purchase more ordinary voting shares.
Porsche wanted to reach majority shareholder status before Christmas. Unsurprisingly, the delicate and sometimes acrimonious negotiations between the two companies took Porsche past their deadline.
Despite owning over half the shares, German law still stands in the way of Porsche having a controlling interest over Volkswagen. To do that, according to law, a company usually requires 75 per cent of a company’s stock. Although, further frustrating Porsche, is the Lower-Saxony ruling that requires an 80 per cent stake in Volkswagen to gain a controlling share. Porsche has unsucessfully challenged this ruling.
The Lower-Saxony government owns 20.1 per cent of Volkswagen stock.