Volkswagen preparing to announce plans for Porsche IPO

Leading German carmaker Volkswagen is expected to announce whether it will float its subsidiary Porsche on the stock market as a separate entity, reported dpa.

According to a company announcement on Saturday, this could happen in the near future.

The executive board and supervisory board are planning to address the possible initial public offering (IPO) for the sports car unit at the end of September or beginning of October in their meetings on September 5, 2022, the company said.

Volkswagen is also due to approve plans for a sale of a quarter of the ordinary shares plus one share in Porsche to Porsche SE (PSE), the holding company that part owns Germany's Volkswagen Group.

VW announced the plan in February. The move would enable the Porsche and Piëch families, which hold the largest block of shares in the VW Group, a blocking minority in Porsche, ensuring they can influence any key decisions.

However, a decision on the Porsche IPO will also still depend on general market conditions, Porsche SE said.

VW's former boss Herbert Diess announced the plans to launch Porsche on the stock market but they are due to be implemented by his successor Oliver Blume, who took over at the company at the start of this month.

Blume, who was chief executive of Porsche, is also maintaining leadership of the VW subsidiary.

He has also announced plans to further expand electric mobility and is also going to scale the board down from its current 12 members to nine.