Following a successful initial public offering, shares in Porsche started trading on Thursday on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Volkswagen Group, which owned 100% of Porsche prior to the IPO, set the placement price at 82.50 euros (approximately $79.60) per share, valuing the sports car marque at 75 billion euros.
The share price has risen to 84.90 euros at the time of writing.
VW Group first announced its interest to take Porsche public in February and announced the IPO earlier in September. The process saw Porsche divided up into 911 million shares, with these split 50:50 between preference and ordinary shares. The preference shares have no voting rights but come with higher dividends attached.
VW Group made 12.5% of the total shares available to the public, all preference shares. The move raised 9.4 billion euros, some of which will be returned to shareholders as a special dividend. The bulk will be used for investment in the key areas of electric vehicles, self-driving technology, and software development.
Porsche SE, the holding company majority owned by the Porsche and Piëch families, and the biggest shareholder in VW Group, acquired 25% plus one share of the ordinary shares, a move that provides the holding company with a blocking minority, and as a result sway in any key decisions.
VW Group may follow with another IPO in the near future. Speaking at an investor presentation in July, Arno Antlitz, VW Group's chief financial officer, said an IPO of the recently established battery company PowerCo was possible next year or in 2024. 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.
