Monday, June 15, 2009

Porsche Still Scrambling To Raise Cash, Offers Qatar €2.5 Billion Stake

Zero Hedge favorite soap opera extraordinaire is about to enter the final season. Porsche, which as we noted in the past doesn't have either the cash to exercise its massively profitable Volkswagen options, nor the cash to actually stave off bankruptcy for long, has bypassed the hedge fund investor rescue route completely (no surprise there) and instead is trying to sell an unknown stake (likely at least 25%) to the Qatar Investment Authority. Quote Bloomberg:
Stuttgart-based Porsche may conclude an accord with Qatar by the end of June, said the two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private. Negotiations about the sale, held exclusively with the Persian Gulf state, are proceeding “in a good atmosphere,” said Porsche spokesman Albrecht Bamler. He declined to comment on a price.

Qatar wants to buy at least 25 percent of Porsche, the people said. A transaction would help Porsche alleviate its 9 billion euros in debt amassed with the purchase of a controlling stake in Volkswagen. Qatar would gain a say in company strategy, marking the first time in Porsche’s 78-year history that the controlling Porsche and Piech families have ceded some control.
Angela Merkel's reaction to selling a substantial stake in the most prominent German carmaker to a gulf state was not captured, but even if it was, it probably would be sufficiently NSFW to make neither Bloomberg, nor abundantly politically correct Zero Hedge, republish it.

Speaking of the European automaker collapse, how are those VOW, POR, and CONTI CDS doing these days? All time tights yet? One really has to admire the solid prospects M3's and Cayennes face (not to mentione tire and drivetrain manufacturers) as consumers max out the remaining balance on their Capital One credit cards.

But anyway, for the answer to these questions and more, as well as keeping an intimate track of all daily CDS moves, we recommend readers check out a brand new service launched by Markit that will likely put half the premium content providers in CDS land out of business, and hopefully quite a few TARP recipients as well. Sphere: Related Content
Print this post
blog comments powered by Disqus