The shares of the sports car manufacturer Porsche started trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at 84 euros on Thursday morning.

Immediately after the start of trading, they are already above the issue price of EUR 82.50.

“We successfully floated Porsche on the stock exchange.

Today is a good day for Porsche and for Volkswagen," said Volkswagen CFO Arno Antlitz shortly before the initial listing.

Gustave parts

Business correspondent in Stuttgart.

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Christian Muessgens

Business correspondent in Hamburg.

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The hustle and bustle of the Porsche team showed just how nervous we were beforehand.

A run had already been made on Wednesday.

Who has to stand where and when?

When is which interview in front of which camera?

Even if it is a return to the stock exchange for the company, it is new territory for those responsible today.

Some observers find that there is surprisingly little going on in the morning - when Daimler Trucks debuted on the stock exchange, it was full.

Later, however, the trading floor fills up noticeably.

excitement beforehand

One of the special features of this IPO is that VW not only sells non-voting preferred shares on the stock exchange, but also sells 25 percent plus one share of the voting common shares to Porsche SE, the holding company of the Porsche and Piëch families, which is also listed on the Dax.

The holding company now has a blocking minority and increases its control over the sports car manufacturer, in which it previously only held an indirect stake through its VW shares.

Including the sale of trunks and preference, VW will receive 19.5 billion euros based on the issue price.

The group intends to distribute almost half of this as a special dividend, which in turn will benefit Porsche SE to a large extent.

The other half remains for VW for investments, for example in battery cell factories, of which the group wants to build six in Europe alone.

IPO with many special features

An extraordinary general meeting, which VW is expected to convene in December, is to vote on the special dividend.

The money will then be distributed at the beginning of 2023 - and will serve as an important financing component for Porsche SE in order to be able to take over the ordinary shares.

Porsche SE intends to pay the purchase price for the first tranche of ordinary shares to VW in October, and the rest only next year when the special dividend has been paid.

This complex financial flow, which acts like a cyclical business, is one of the many special features of the IPO of Porsche.

Other constellations, such as Oliver Blume's dual role as head of the sports car manufacturer and the parent company VW in a personal union, had recently caused criticism.

A number of experts see this as a violation of the common rules of good corporate governance.

Porsche, on the other hand, emphasizes that it is able to make possible conflicts of interest transparent and to be able to control them, also with the help of external consultants.