SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 26 April 2024, Friday |

Porsche IPO valuation sends Volkswagen shares up 1.3%

Volkswagen shares were up 1.3% when markets opened on Monday, after the automaker stated on Sunday that it aimed to value Porsche, a luxury sportscar brand, for up to 75 billion euros ($74.84 billion).

If the upper price goal is hit, the offer may become Europe’s third largest IPO ever, according to Refinitiv data.

Volkswagen’s share price was trading at 147.38 euros by 0727 GMT, from 145.38 at Friday’s close. The shares had risen 3% in premarket trade on Monday.

Shares in Porsche Holding SE, Volkswagen’s largest shareholder, were 1.5% higher, topping Germany’s DAX blue-chip index.

Volkswagen announced on Sunday night it would price preferred shares in the flotation of Porsche AG at 76.50 euros to 82.50 euros per share.

A prospectus with further details on the listing is expected to be published on Monday afternoon.

The carmaker plans on placing up to 12.5% of Porsche’s share capital with investors in the form of preferred shares, which do not carry voting rights.

Trading will begin on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Sept. 29, in potentially Germany’s second-largest IPO in history.

Already, cornerstone investors have laid claim to almost 40% of the share capital on offer: Qatar Investment Authority, Volkswagen’s third-largest shareholder, has committed to buying 4.99%, while Norway’s sovereign wealth fund and T. Rowe Price will purchase shares worth 750 million euros, Sunday’s statement said.

Abu Dhabi’s ADQ will buy shares worth 300 million euros.

“The Porsche IPO will most likely be a success… investors are queuing up. If the Porsche IPO goes well, one could imagine placing other parts [of Volkswagen] such as Audi on the stock exchange,” auto expert Arndt Ellinghorst of data analytics firm QuantCo said.

The subscription period for private and institutional investors is expected to run from Sept. 20 to Sept. 28, with shares offered to private investors in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy and Spain.

In line with Volkswagen’s agreement earlier in September with Porsche SE, 25% plus one ordinary share in the sportscar brand, which do carry voting rights, will go to Porsche SE at the price of the preferred shares plus a 7.5% premium.

Porsche SE will finance the acquisition of the ordinary shares with debt capital of up to 7.9 billion euros, it said in a separate statement.

Total proceeds from the sale will be 18.1 billion to 19.5 billion euros.

    Source:
  • Reuters