Altro tentativo di Porsche di ricevere un prestito statale, rifiutato in quanto i problemi di Porsche non sono frutto dalla crisi economica, ma piuttosto della dabbenaggine di Piech...
Le banche non voglio trovarsi esposte al rischio di incorrere in gravi perdite quando - esercitate le opzioni su un ulteriore 20% di VW - il valore del titolo dovesse crollare, costringendo Porsche a sostanziosi writedowns.
Una situazione che continua ad essere a rischio. Non stupisce che Volkswagen cerchi di conservarsi entità separata, sebbene controllata da Porsche. Nel mentre si attende l'esito dei colloqui con il Quatar, mentre sembrerebbe meno verosimile l'intervento nella vicenda di Daimler nelle vesti di cavaliere bianco di Porsche, dato che di problemi da risolvere ha già i propri.
Porsche Forced to Overhaul German Loan Application (Update3)
By Chris Reiter and Andreas Cremer
June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Porsche SE, struggling to refinance 9 billion euros ($12.5 billion) in
debt, will make a second approach for state funding after the German government asked the carmaker to prove its woes aren’t the result of mismanagement.
State-owned development bank KfW Group rejected the 1.75 billion-euro loan request because Porsche failed to show the economic crisis led to funding constraints, two people familiar with the negotiations said today. Porsche also talked with Daimler AG, which makes Mercedes-Benz cars, about an investment, according to two other people close to the discussions.
Porsche’s debt tripled after the manufacturer raised its holding in Volkswagen AG to 50.8 percent at the start of this year. The carmaker now lacks the funds to exercise options for an additional 20 percent of Volkswagen stock, forcing Porsche to enter talks with Qatar about selling a stake to the Gulf state.
“Porsche can hardly get into a negotiation with a strong hand,” said
Gary Jenkins, head of credit research at Evolution Securities Ltd. in London. “The whole world knows they need cash.”
The bank wants Porsche to be more specific about how the loan will be used and how it plans to repay it, the people said. Talks with politicians and KfW continue, and no decisions have been reached, Porsche spokesman Albrecht Bamler said.
Steering Committee
The maker of the 911 sports car applied for the loan after failing to reach an agreement with commercial banks on
funds needed to run its operations. The final decision on the loan rests with a government steering committee. It’s unclear when the committee will meet,
Steffen Moritz, a spokesman for the Economy Ministry, said today.
“There are clear question marks whether the financial emergency Porsche claims for itself is a result of the financial crisis,”
Steffen Kampeter, budget spokesman for Chancellor
Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, said on June 19 in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio.
Qatar Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jasim Bin
Jaber al-Thani said June 16 that a decision on an investment in Porsche may be resolved in two or three weeks. Porsche may sell a 25 percent holding to Qatar for as much as 2.5 billion euros, two people familiar with the situation said on June 15. Porsche said on June 9 that it’s talking exclusively with Qatar.
Daimler Troubles
Daimler, the world’s second-largest maker of luxury cars, has also been strained by the crisis in the auto industry. It raised 1.95 billion euros in March selling new shares to Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments PJSC. The 9.1 percent stake was sold 55 percent below the stock’s value in June 2008, when Daimler announced plans to buy back its own shares.
Daimler, also based in Stuttgart, plans to cut 4 billion euros in spending this year as it reacts to the worst auto-
industry crisis in decades. Deliveries of Mercedes-Benz cars have fallen 22 percent in the first five months of 2009, which Chief Executive Officer
Dieter Zetsche has said will be a “Darwin year” for the industry.
Besides Porsche, Daimler has also held cooperation talks with Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, its larger competitor, for more than a year.
BMW Chief Financial Officer
Friedrich Eichiner said today that any negotiations between Daimler and Porsche wouldn’t be likely to disrupt BMW’s talks with Daimler, which concern joint purchasing of components.
Munich-based BMW isn’t in contact with Porsche about a potential investment, Eichiner said in an interview at a BMW event in Berlin.
In the face of mounting debts, Porsche has abandoned its project to acquire 75 percent of Volkswagen. Porsche, controlled by the Porsche and Piech families, said on May 6 that it would instead begin talks with VW on creating an integrated European carmaker. That structure would put Porsche alongside Volkswagen brands including Audi, Skoda and Bentley.
“A KfW loan would be vital for Porsche,” said
Willi Diez, head of the Nuertingen, Germany-based Institute for Automobile Industry, a state-funded think tank. “They’ll do what they can to pull it in.”
