In order to shore up some of its rocky finances ahead of a Volkswagen integration, Porsche is reportedly readying the sale of its Volkswagen share options. The call options have the potential to be converted into about a 20 percent stake of VW.
The options have helped Porsche’s profits to exceed sales, but the German automaker’s poor financial standing has likely left the company unable to exercise the options, according to Bloomberg. As such, Porsche may be looking to unload the call options in order to off-set some of the $12 billion debt it incurred in its quest to takeover Volkswagen.
The options, when combined with Porsche ’s current 51 percent stake in VW, would have given the sports car maker more than a 70 percent interest in Volkswagen . The purchaser of the options will be entitled to the cash equivalent of VW’s common stock price, less a yet-to-be-disclosed strike price.
No bidders have officially stepped forward, but the Gulf state of Qatar is believed to be among the front-runners. Rumors of Qatar’s interest in Porsche first surfaced in April, with Qatari Finance Minister Youssef Kamal confirming those reports last week.
