Porsche shareholders pave the way merger with Volkswagen

German manufacturer Porsche shareholders approved a capital increase amounting to 5 billion euros, a transaction that opened the way for Porsche's takeover by Volkswagen, the largest carmaker in Europe.

Operation would be completed by May 2011, but there can be prolonged until the end of August, and is designed to reduce the debt of six billion euros of Porsche, before the merger with Volkswagen, announced Agerpres.

Volkswagen already owns 49.9% stake in Porsche and wants to purchase and the remaining shares within the next year.

However, both companies' chief financial officer Hans Dieter Poetsch, told shareholders that "can not guarantee the takeover by Volkswagen will take place immediately after the increase of capital." In addition to issues related to taxes, the capital of the Porsche could be blocked by several minority investors who say that Porsche has manipulated the market in 2008 when he tried to buy a larger percentage of shares in Volkswagen.

By taking the Porsche brand that will become the tenth group, Volkswagen wants to overtake Toyota by 2018 and will become the largest automaker in the world.

Source: http://www.volkswagen.com/