Have the worlds of car and commercial
vehicle manufacturing – and also their respective finance
businesses – changed forever?
This would appear to be the case following last
month’s long-awaited purchase by Porsche of a majority stake in
Volkswagen (VW).
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40th-largest car manufacturer in the world, acquired not just a
stake in VW, the world’s third-largest car and commercial vehicle
manufacturer. It also acquired a number of large businesses that
are owned by VW.
50 percent share. VW wants to increase this by buying the 25
percent stakes in LeasePlan owned by Middle Eastern investors
Mubadala Development Company and Olayan Group, sometime in early
2010.
Exactly how much influence Porsche will have over
LeasePlan’s future is unclear. Porsche is, after all, one of
several owners of VW, albeit a major one (the other major one is
the State of Lower Saxony, while the remaining 30 percent stake is
spread among a host of much smaller investors). However, Porsche
intends by the end of this year to increase its stake in VW to 75
percent.
Thanks to its current share buy in VW, Porsche
also now has indirect control of Scania, thanks to VW’s 70 percent
stake in the Swedish truck maker. It also now owns an interest in
MAN AG, again thanks to the VW share buyout (VW owns a 29.9 percent
stake in MAN).
Porsche intends to stick to car manufacturing,
and seemingly has little or no interest in furthering its stake in
Scania.
However, due to a quirk of Swedish law, it has to
launch a mandatory offer for those Scania shares that are not under
its control. Last month it made such a bid, but offered such a low
price for the shares that it is not expected to be successful.
This is great news for MAN AG which has wanted to
buy Scania for some time. In fact, less than less than two weeks
before Porsche’s buyout of VW, MAN AG fulfilled its own “long-term
strategic interest” in Scania and bought call options on the stock
of the Swedish truck builder.
Together with its existing interest in the
company, MAN AG now has more than 20 percent of all the voting
rights offered by Scania’s capital. MAN AG made its mark elsewhere
last month by buying Volkswagen’s Brazilian truck and bus
division.
This begs the question: will Porsche sell its
stake in both Scania and MAN AG? As yet the answer to this question
remains uncertain, although at present it seems a likely
outcome.
Meanwhile, Porsche is likely to grow its
influence, both in manufacturing and finance, over coming
months.
