FRANKFURT Porsche paid €3.3 billion last year to become the biggest shareholder in Volkswagen, but the German government still has a bigger say over VW, the largest European automaker. Now Porsche is thinking of joining a battle at the European Union level to break the politicians' grip.
Porsche's chief executive, Wendelin Wiedeking, has said that he is examining whether his company can join a European Commission lawsuit. That suit challenges a German law guaranteeing the regional government of Lower Saxony a veto over major decisions at Volkswagen.
Porsche paid the equivalent of $4.2 billion last autumn for 21.2 percent of VW and has an option to buy an additional 3.9 percent. Lower Saxony holds 20.75 percent. But the so-called Volkswagen law prevents any shareholder but the state from exercising more than 20 percent of the voting rights.
Striking down the law could leave Volkswagen vulnerable to a hostile takeover - something Porsche said it wanted to prevent when it amassed its stake. Volkswagen manufactures the chassis for the Cayenne, Porsche's sport utility vehicle. But Porsche now sees the law as unnecessary and, indeed, an irksome restraint on its own quest for greater influence over VW. "We want to take full advantage of our rights as a shareholder," Wiedeking said recently
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