Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) said Saturday the evaluation of possible
options for an earlier takeover of Porsche Automobil Holding SE's
(PAH3.XE) sportscar unit hasn't been finalized yet after a German
media report suggested the auto makers identified a way to bypass a
large tax payment and could push through the deal as early as
August.
"The evaluation hasn't been finalized yet. As soon as we have
the necessary clarity we'll inform about it in due course,"
Volkswagen said in a statement. The management of Volkswagen
controls both Europe's largest auto maker by sales and Porsche's
holding firm.
VW already owns a 49.9% stake in Porsche's core sportscar
business and wants to take over the remaining 50.1% to reap more
cost savings after the plan for a fully fledged merger including
Porsche's holding firm had to be abandoned last year due to legal
obstacles.
Porsche sold the 49.9% stake in its sports-car unit to
Volkswagen in 2009 as part of a complex deal to forge a combined
company after its attempt to take over its much larger rival
backfired amid ballooning debt in the aftermath of the financial
crisis.
At the time, Porsche and Volkswagen mutually granted each other
options to transfer the remaining 50.1% stake to Volkswagen if the
initial plan for a merger including Porsche's holding firm doesn't
work out.
A key aspect of this alternative scenario, however, is a
potential tax charge if Volkswagen and Porsche go ahead with the
deal before mid-2014. Concluding the deal earlier would enable
Volkswagen and Porsche to extract more cost savings faster.
Weekly Wirtschaftswoche reported earlier Saturday on its website
that financial authorities in the German federal state of
Baden-Wuerttemberg ruled that the deal won't trigger a tax payment
of up to EUR1.5 billion if in addition to a purchase price of
EUR4.5 billion Porsche's holding firm also receives one single
voting share in VW. Baden-Wuerttemberg's finance ministry would
view this scenario as a tax-free reorganization instead of an
outright sale, according to the report. Baden-Wuerttemberg's
finance ministry wasn't immediately available on Saturday.
Write to Christoph Rauwald at christoph.rauwald@dowjones.com and
Philipp Grontzki at philipp.grontzki@dowjones.com