A big idea is obviously taking shape: sports car manufacturer Porsche is actually aiming for an IPO. In an ad hoc announcement, the parent holding company, Porsche SE, said it was “in advanced talks” with the Volkswagen Group. The car manufacturer from Stuttgart is one of twelve brands currently in the group – and the most profitable. Even in times of crisis, the margin is usually over 15 percent, or even higher. If a sports car is sold for 100,000 euros, there is a profit of at least 15,000, maybe even 20,000 euros – a much higher rate than, for example, the core Volkswagen brand.
For this reason, there has been talk for some time about separating the world-famous brand from the association. A year ago, Porsche CFO Lutz Meschke argued accordingly in an SZ interview: “Corporations are often massively undervalued because the individual value of the units is never reproduced 1:1 on the capital market,” he said at the time. When asked whether it didn’t make him uncomfortable to constantly have to transfer high profits to the VW Group, Meschke answered confidently: “You hardly have a choice.”
Meschke already said four years ago that Porsche could be worth 60 to 70 billion euros on the stock exchange. Analysts consider this number to be plausible: Some even speak of a possible Porsche value of 100 billion euros. For comparison: The VW Group – including Porsche – currently has a value of 115 billion euros.
The conversation with Meschke, who is also a confidant of the owner families Porsche and Piëch, read like an advertisement for this idea. Especially since the manager immediately provided the details that still apply today: the capital market appreciates “homogeneous, focused business units”. If you were self-employed, the financing options would also increase. And a lean company can act faster, for example in alliances with “tech players” who are important for autonomous driving, but also for electrification. In fact, Volkswagen preferred stock jumped 8.5 percent Tuesday after the ad hoc announcement.
Two who appear very independently: Porsche CEO Oliver Blume (left) and CFO Lutz Meschke.
(Photo: THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP)
The headquarters as a “lean holding company” with thick blocks of shares?
Should the stock exchange plan become a reality, the Volkswagen Group would also benefit. Even a partial sale would bring several billions, which is not insignificant in these challenging times of transformation. According to reports, an even more extensive division of the group is conceivable for this reason – along the “brand groups” into which Herbert Diess has divided the group: here the trucks and buses, which are already combined in a listed construct called Traton. There the classier cars around Audi including Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti. Finally, the “volume group” with VW, Škoda and Seat and possibly parts production. And of course: Porsche. The headquarters in Wolfsburg would then only function as a “lean holding company” which – one hears this again and again – would hold significant blocks of shares. The majority of the truck manufacturer Traton, for example, is clearly with the VW group. And even at Porsche it is currently unthinkable that more than 25 percent would be given to the free market, so the direction would clearly remain in Wolfsburg.
Not only has the Porsche CFO acted self-confidently in recent months, some product decisions have recently gone contrary to corporate raison d’être. For example, the announcement from Stuttgart that the new Cayenne would not be built in the VW Bulli plant in Hanover. It would have been an important project for Lower Saxony, but the Swabians prevailed. And finally, in recent months, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume has repeatedly indicated that he would like to stay in Stuttgart and would be reluctant to move to Wolfsburg to succeed Diess there.
Stuttgart instead of Wolfsburg? In the light of an imminent IPO, this decision seems much more understandable. Because even for an experienced manager like Blume, it would be an exciting project that would go down in the history books.
Last but not least, there is the name that makes the project likely: in the end, everything at VW goes back to Porsche, the designer and the family. Especially Wolfgang Porsche, currently spokesman for the family, which still holds significant parts of the group, is therefore particularly interested in this brand. In this respect, greater independence is also a question of well-being.