Porsche obliged to bid for Scania
German sports car maker Porsche is obliged to place a bid for Swedish truck firm Scania after acquiring more that fifty percent of the voting stock in Volkswagen (VW).
As Volkswagen controls a majority stake in Scania, Porsche thereby gains indirect control over the firm and according to stock market rules, must therefore make an offer for the outstanding shares.
According to Swedish takeover rules Porsche has four weeks to table a bid for the remainder of Scania stock that it doesn't already control, the firm conceded in a press release announcing the acquisition of VW stock.
Porsche has however stated to news agency Reuters that it has no interest in a takeover of the Swedish truck maker.
Volkswagen took control of Scania back in March 2008 when it upped its stake to 68.60 percent of the voting rights in the firm and increase its direct stake to 37.73 percent, after buying shares from the Wallenberg family.
Following months of speculation over the company's future, Scania boss Leif Östling welcomed the takeover.
"I very much welcome VW as the majority shareholder. It's good for Scania to have the stability," he told a press conference in Stockholm at the time.
The move increased speculation that Scania would be merged with German truckmaker MAN, in which VW also owns a stake, to make Europe's biggest maker of heavy trucks.
Porsche then announced its intention to take control of VW and speculation over Scania's future began again.
Sweden's Financial Supervisory Board (Finansinspektionen) afforded VW an exception from making a compulsory bid for outstanding stock in Scania. In October the board confirmed that this exception applied only to VW and an eventual takeover by Porsche would forfeit this exception.
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As Volkswagen controls a majority stake in Scania, Porsche thereby gains indirect control over the firm and according to stock market rules, must therefore make an offer for the outstanding shares.
According to Swedish takeover rules Porsche has four weeks to table a bid for the remainder of Scania stock that it doesn't already control, the firm conceded in a press release announcing the acquisition of VW stock.
Porsche has however stated to news agency Reuters that it has no interest in a takeover of the Swedish truck maker.
Volkswagen took control of Scania back in March 2008 when it upped its stake to 68.60 percent of the voting rights in the firm and increase its direct stake to 37.73 percent, after buying shares from the Wallenberg family.
Following months of speculation over the company's future, Scania boss Leif Östling welcomed the takeover.
"I very much welcome VW as the majority shareholder. It's good for Scania to have the stability," he told a press conference in Stockholm at the time.
The move increased speculation that Scania would be merged with German truckmaker MAN, in which VW also owns a stake, to make Europe's biggest maker of heavy trucks.
Porsche then announced its intention to take control of VW and speculation over Scania's future began again.
Sweden's Financial Supervisory Board (Finansinspektionen) afforded VW an exception from making a compulsory bid for outstanding stock in Scania. In October the board confirmed that this exception applied only to VW and an eventual takeover by Porsche would forfeit this exception.
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