Word: piech
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There is another lesson in Wiedeking's downfall, a lesson unlikely to be lost on automotive executives, investment bankers or even European Union bureaucrats: Volkswagen is not just any German company. Wiedeking lost his bid for control of VW when he lost the support of Ferdinand Piech, the VW supervisory board chairman who initially backed a Porsche takeover. Piech realized that Christian Wulff, the premier of the state of Lower Saxony, which holds a blocking stake in the carmaker, would not support a takeover. All Wulff had to do was use the so-called Volkswagen...
...Porsche and Piech families together own about 50% of the common stock of Porsche Automobil Holding SE, which in turns owns more than half of VW stock. And the two companies have been working ever more closely together, including sharing a slew of joint operations. The Porsche Cayenne SUV and its VW equivalent, the Touareg, for example, share the same chassis and are built in the same plant. (See the most important cars of all time...
...Porsche has acquired ever larger blocks of VW shares - this January its stake passed 50% - VW's strong labor unions have grown increasingly alarmed at the prospect of being subjected to Porsche management, especially as Wiedeking has a reputation for toughness. To Wolfgang Porsche and Wiedeking's surprise, Piech has sided increasingly openly with VW's unions in bad-mouthing and openly opposing Wiedeking. Behind the scenes, other members of the Porsche family have tried, with limited success, to calm things...
...feuding has now escalated to a brawl, as Piech has pounced on an unexpected weakness in Porsche's acquisition strategy. Wiedeking and Porsche CFO Holger Härter have been amassing the VW stake through a sophisticated options-trading strategy that has provided the company with massive profits over the past three years, as well as giving them ownership of VW. But it has also ballooned Porsche's debt to $12.5 billion. Under normal circumstances, Porsche would have no trouble financing that debt - its VW stake alone is worth about $50 billion - but in the current economic crisis, even...
...Porsche turned to the German government for help, but was rebuffed. Wiedeking has been negotiating with the Gulf state of Qatar over a cash infusion, but has so far failed to reach any deal. Piech sees the crisis as an opportunity to turn the tables and for VW to take control of Porsche, rather than the other way around. He's offered to buy Porsche's auto operations - but in a manner that provoked a furious response. Last weekend, the usually press-shy Wolfgang Porsche fired off an angry statement to the media accusing his cousin of issuing an ultimatum...