On September 8, 2011, Volkswagen AG announced that the planned merger with Porsche Automobil Holding SE (Porsche SE) cannot be implemented within the time frame laid down in the Comprehensive Agreement. The decision was reached by the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG following discussions with Porsche SE. Nevertheless, all parties remain committed to the goal of creating an integrated automotive group with Porsche and are convinced that they will succeed in doing so.
The existing legal hurdles, and particularly those resulting from the ongoing proceedings and actions against Porsche SE in Germany and the USA due to alleged market manipulation, made it impossible from Volkswagen’s perspective to quantify the economic risks and hence to arrive at a valuation for Porsche SE that could be used to determine the exchange ratio.
The Board of Management is analyzing whether there are additional ways of achieving the goal of creating an integrated automotive group with Porsche apart from the put/call options agreed in the Comprehensive Agreement.
