Volkswagen has acknowledged that taking Porsche public could allow it to tap into new capital markets.
VW boss Herbert Diess was recently quizzed about whether the automaker had considered an IPO for Porsche. He largely dodged the question but did seem to acknowledge that it is a possibility.
“As I said, we continue to review our set up,” he told Reuters. “First priority is now to finance the battery ramp-up where we try to partly externally finance and we are working out the models. And all the other, let say, possibilities to go to market, which might be trucks, where we could dilute a little bit… or any other things, we have to consider.”
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This isn’t the first time this year that there has been speculation about a Porsche IPO. In March, Porsche finance chief Lutz Meschke revealed that the brand had discussed the advantages of an initial public offering, indicating that Porsche could be worth up to €70 billion ($83 million). Money raised from an initial public offering could go a long way in helping to fund Volkswagen’s transition to electric vehicles.
However, Diess didn’t sound sold on the idea a couple of weeks after Meschke’s comments, stating that “you don’t want to give up a pearl like Porsche.”
Taking Porsche public could also prove to be quite a challenge now following the complex tie-up between the German automaker, Rimac, and Bugatti. Through this deal, Bugatti and Rimac will establish a joint venture in which Rimac will have a 55 per cent stake in, and Porsche, which already has a 24 per cent stake in Rimac, will hold the remaining 45 per cent.
