Volkswagen will price shares in Porsche at between €76.50 and €82.50, the German group announced on Sunday, leading to a partial IPO that would put a value on the historic sports car brand of €70bn-€75bn — in the middle of the range of analysts’ expectations.
The flotation of 12.5 per cent of Porsche, planned for September 29 in Frankfurt, will deliver €8.7bn-€9.4bn to the marque’s parent company. VW has said it will use almost half of the proceeds to pay a one-off special dividend, while the remaining funds will be deployed to help the carmaker pay for the transition to battery technology.
Roughly €3.8bn worth of shares have been earmarked for a combination of backers: the Qatar Investment Authority and a big VW shareholder that intends to acquire almost 2.5 per cent of Porsche, along with Norges Bank, T Rowe Price, the investment firm, and ADQ, the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund. The last three have committed to subscribe for non-voting shares worth €750mn, €750mn and €300mn, respectively.