Lower Saxony to block Porsche’s proposal for restructuring of VW’s voting structure
04/10/2008, 12:56 PM
By Drew Johnson
The state of Lower Saxony, Volkswagen’s second biggest shareholder, said on Wednesday that it plans to block a move to do away with its right to block any major decisions at the automaker. Porsche, VW’s largest shareholder, wants to change the rule that requires 80 percent plus one of VW’s shareholders to approve any “significant decisions.”
As it stands, Lower Saxony owns a 20.1 percent share in VW, enough to override any decision requiring an 80 percent approval. Porsche hopes to get the percentage down to 75 percent, which is more in line with German securities laws.
According to The Detroit News, Porsche currently holds a 31 percent stake in VW, but put the wheels in motion to acquire a majority stake in the German automaker in March.
Late last year, the European Court of Justice revoked the so called “VW Law“, which capped a shareholder’s vote to just 20 percent, no matter the holder’s invested interest. VW Law was enacted in the 1950s as a way to prevent a hostile takeover.
04/10, 1:48 PM
posted by:
F3INT))AP3X
Who the **** cares, let the Germans cry and don’t bother posting about it. This article is 4 paragraphs and all it is saying is that nothing is going to change, wow how informative!
04/10, 3:37 PM
posted by:
mayer_ray_nagin
Niedersachsen kann mich sowieso am Arsch lecken. Ist wesentlich ein Haufen Schaffenficker.
04/10, 6:13 PM
posted by:
G
I’m actually a fan of a CERTAIN level of protectionism for a country’s large corporations, etc, to keep major national interests national, and out of the hands of foreign commie bastards!
So many “other” countries in the world have extensive policies protecting their companies from foreign interests, but in the West we largely leave ours open to the highest bidder. This is kinda ridiculous.
Having said that, any such policies have to general policies; to have such a law enacted specifically naming one company is ludicrous, and stupid as hell.
04/10, 10:03 PM
posted by:
autonut
I think US market way ahead of Europpean: FOrd family owns 5% of value and controls 60% of vote. Nobody takes them to court.