Arab state funds apparently want to participate in the Porsche IPO.

The VW major shareholder Qatar Investment Authority has decided to become a strategic investor in the sports car manufacturer, the Bloomberg news agency reported on Friday.

Gustave parts

Business correspondent in Stuttgart.

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Qatar holds 17 percent of the voting rights in the Volkswagen Group, making it the third largest shareholder after Porsche Holding and the state of Lower Saxony.

When asked about the report, a Porsche spokesman referred to the VW group.

A VW spokeswoman said there were no new decisions, more information would be available in late summer.

The Qatar Investment Authority also declined to comment on the report when asked.

Also Norway, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia there?

According to the report, in addition to Qatar, the sovereign wealth funds Mubadala and ADQ from Abu Dhabi are also among the potential investors.

There is also interest in Saudi Arabia.

In addition, the VW consultants turned to the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund and other funds in Malaysia and Canada.

Mubadala and ADQ did not respond to a request from the FAZ. The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund declined to comment on the report.

Porsche and VW want to go through with the IPO despite the difficult market environment.

One reason is the great interest shown by institutional investors.

In Wolfsburg, there are apparently concrete indications that Qatar wants to get involved.

However, it is still unclear under what conditions this should happen.

According to Bloomberg, VW could offer anchor investors more than 5 percent of the shares.

decision in a few weeks

In mid-July, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume and his deputy and chief financial officer Lutz Meschke wooed analysts and investors at a capital market day.

The outgoing VW boss Herbert Diess was in Qatar himself in June and spoke there about the IPO.

Diess will be replaced by Blume at the beginning of September, who is to lead Porsche and VW in a personal union.

This is met with great criticism from analysts and investors, who warn, among other things, of conflicts of interest.

The Porsche IPO could be one of the largest in German economic history.

The sports car manufacturer is to be valued at least 60 billion euros.

This corresponds to the value that CFO Meschke had already mentioned in 2018 when he first discussed an IPO.

Some also consider a valuation of 100 billion euros to be possible.

The Porsche shares are to be divided equally between preferred and common shares.

25 percent of the preference shares, i.e. 12.5 percent of the total shares, are sold on the stock exchange.

Porsche Holding, which is controlled by the Porsche and Piëch families, will in future hold a blocking minority of 25 percent of the ordinary shares with voting rights.

According to current plans, the step onto the floor would take place in the fourth quarter.

The final decision is due at the end of August or beginning of September.