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The German sports carmaker Porsche has increased its stake in Volkswagen, Europe's biggest auto manufacturer, to a majority holding.
It now holds 50.8 per cent, up from 42.6 per cent, and wants to raise that to 75 per cent later this year. It will also be forced to make a mandatory takeover offer for the Swedish truckmaker Scania, in which VW holds 68.6 per cent.
But Porsche made it plain that it did not intend to add lorries and buses to its high-performance luxury cars. It will bid only the legal minimum under Swedish law.
Late last year Porsche caused panic on European bourses by disclosing that it had acquired options taking its direct and indirect holding to just under 75 per cent of VW. With its shares trading at more than EUR1,000, VW briefly became the world's most valuable private-sector company. The move triggered a further surge in VW shares to EUR300, or up EUR45.
Porsche used its supply of fixed-price options to buy the extra 8.2 per cent of VW's equity, which would normally be worth EUR6 billion at market prices. It is thought to have paid about EUR100 a share.
But analysts doubt whether, in the recession, Porsche will raise its stake this year to the 75 per cent which, under German corporate law, would give it full control.
Its room for manoeuvre is squeezed by the controversial 20 per cent blocking minority stake still held by the federal state of Lower Saxony, despite a ruling by Europe's highest court that this is illegal.
The European commission plans to take Germany to the European court of justice over its refusal to amend the 1960 'VW law' in line with the ECJ ruling.
