Porsche-Piech family regain control of Volkswagen

The Porsche-Piech family bought Qatar Holding's 10 per cent stake in Porsche Automobil Holding to regain full control of the majority owner of Volkswagen.

"All of Porsche SE's common stock is now again held by the Porsche and Piech families," Wolfgang Porsche, supervisory board chairman, said in a statement today. "This is an expression of our confidence in the prosperous future of Porsche SE as the largest shareholder of Volkswagen."

Qatar's stake is worth about €930 million, assuming the common shares are valued at the same price as the publicly traded preferred stock, said Frank Biller, a Stuttgart, Germany-based analyst with Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg. The family and Qatar aren't disclosing the price.

The holding company’s only asset is 50.7 per cent of VW’s common shares after selling the remainder of the automotive business to VW last year for €4.5 billion.

The two companies have called off plans for a full merger because of lawsuits against Porsche linked to its aborted takeover of Volkswagen more than four years ago. – Bloomberg