Five years ago, former and now disgraced Porsche chief Wendelin Wiedeking started the Porsche SE. It was a holding company, destined to hold the shares of Volkswagen after a successful takeover. Porsche cars are made by Porsche AG. The takeover never happened. Volkswagen bought nearly 50 percent of Porsche AG, and wants the rest ASAP. What will become of Porsche SE?
If the shareholders agree – and the shareholder meeting is today – Porsche SE will become a trading house, selling rare earths, building solar farms, and offering car sharing services, Germany’s ARD says.
And when will Porsche come “Heim ins Reich” to Volkswagen? As quickly as possible. The only problem: If the purchase happens too hastily, nearly $2 billion in taxes would be payable. Volkswagen could wait until 2014, when the matter would be tax free. But Volkswagen does not want to wait that long, says Financial Times Deutschland. Therefore, a tax trick has been devised. The deal will be called an internal restructuring, no tax. And Volkswagen better get going now. Some German states already announced that they want to close that loophole.
Volkswagen chief Winterkorn denies the tax trick. “The opposite is the case,” Winterkorn told the Handelsblatt, and tried to look as innocent as possible. The merger would create higher profits, and higher profits would mean “increased tax revenue for the government.”
The old adage “You could make more money under the new plan” seems to apply. When times get tough the accountants squeeze every last dime out of the stone.
Another emotional chapter in the longest running automotive soap opera… and I don’t think we have seen the conclusion yet.
Auf Wiedersehen, meine Liebe Porsche.
So in German terms is AG different than SE or did these just signify ways to tell the difference between the companies?
An SE, or “Societas Europaea” is a corporation according to European law, whereas an AG, or “Aktien Gesellschaft” is the same according to German law. In Germany, the SE is nicknamed “Europa-AG”.
Funny there is so much drama between Volkswagen and Porsche.