Volkswagen targets 75 billion euro valuation in landmark Porsche IPO

By Jan Schwartz and Victoria Waldersee

HAMBURG/BERLIN (Reuters) -Volkswagen is targeting a valuation of up to 75 billion euros ($75.1 billion) for luxury sportscar maker Porsche, it said on Sunday, in what will be Germany’s second-largest initial public offering (IPO) in history.

Volkswagen will price preferred shares in the flotation of Porsche AG at 76.50 euros to 82.50 euros per share, the carmaker said, translating into a valuation of 70 billion to 75 billion euros.

At the upper end of the range, first reported by Reuters, it would become Europe’s third largest IPO on record, according to Refinitiv data. Trading will begin on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Sept. 29, Volkswagen said.

As part of the listing, 911 million Porsche AG shares will be divided into 455.5 million preferred shares and 455.5 million ordinary shares. Up to 113,875,000 preferred shares, carrying no voting rights, will be placed with investors over the course of the IPO.

The sovereign wealth funds of Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Norway as well as mutual fund company T. Rowe Price will subscribe up to 3.68 billion euros worth of preferred shares as cornerstone investors, at the upper end of the valuation, Volkswagen said.

“We are now in the home stretch with the IPO plans for Porsche and welcome the commitment of our cornerstone investors,” Volkswagen Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Arno Antlitz said.

In line with Volkswagen’s agreement earlier in September with its largest shareholder Porsche SE , 25% plus one ordinary share in the sportscar brand, which do carry voting rights, will go to Porsche SE at the price of the preferred shares plus a 7.5% premium.

Porsche SE, the holding firm controlled by the Porsche and Piech families, will finance the acquisition of the ordinary shares with debt capital of up to 7.9 billion euros, it said in a separate statement.

Total proceeds from the sale will be 18.1 billion to 19.5 billion euros. If the IPO goes ahead, Volkswagen will call an extraordinary shareholder meeting in December where it will propose to pay 49% of total proceeds to shareholders in early 2023 as a special dividend.

A stock exchange prospectus is expected to be published on Monday, after which institutional and private investors can subscribe to Porsche shares.

($1 = 0.9985 euros)

(Reporting by Jan Schwartz and Victoria Waldersee; Additional reporting by Alexander Huebner and Christoph Steitz; Editing by Sabine Wollrab, Frances Kerry, Frank Jack Daniel and Richard Chang)