A Porsche initial public offering will take place before 2022 is out, the sports car marque's Volkswagen Group parent announced on Monday.
VW Group first announced in February it was considering spinning off Porsche to help raise funds for investment in the key areas of electric vehicles, self-driving technology, and software development.
A lot has changed since then. There's the ongoing war in Ukraine, worldwide political strife, raging inflation, rising interest rates, an energy crisis, and stock markets exhibiting high volatility.
Despite these challenges, VW Group said it aims to complete the Porsche IPO by late September or early October, with a listing planned for the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
As part of the IPO process, Porsche's shares have been split 50:50 between preference and ordinary shares. The preference shares have no voting rights but come with higher dividends attached.
Porsche SE, the holding company majority owned by the Porsche and Piëch families, and the biggest shareholder in VW Group, plans to acquire 25% plus one share of the ordinary shares, a move that will provide the holding company with a blocking minority, and as a result sway in any key decisions. Qatar, another major VW Group shareholder, is also expected to purchase a major stake of ordinary shares in Porsche.
The IPO is expected to value Porsche at between 60 billion and 85 billion euros (approximately $60 billion to $85 billion).
Should the IPO prove successful, VW Group may follow with an IPO of recently established battery company PowerCo. Speaking at an investor presentation in July, Arno Antlitz, VW Group's chief financial officer, said the battery company has been set up in a way to make a listing next year or in 2024 possible. PowerCo is responsible for VW Group's global battery activities. The company has announced plans for six battery plants in Europe and is considering establishing plants in North America as well.
