Volkswagen's supervisory board decided on Friday to retain for now a special committee that limits top shareholder Porsche's power, rebuffing the sports car maker.
Porsche has been fighting for ways to gain more control over Volkswagen, in which it aims to have a majority stake by the end of next year, but other shareholders and labour leaders have been pushing to limit its decision-making power. The state of Lower Saxony has said it would use its blocking minority to fight Porsche's plans to hike its stake and gain access to Volkswagen's cash flows.
Labour representatives forced Porsche to seek board approval from the special committee each time it planned a cooperation with VW's luxury unit Audi -- a potential rival to Porsche's own business.The move to keep the committee came as a surprise on Friday, since Porsche less than a month ago said Volkswagen's chairman Ferdinand Piech would table a motion to dissolve the committee.
Volkswagen said the state of Lower Saxony and Porsche had agreed with VW's labour representatives and its supervisory board to "optimise" the committee. It did not say whether it was planning specific measures. Several people familiar with the matter said that the company aimed to merge two separate committees in a compromise.
One of the committees, which had been demanded by labour representatives, approves planned cooperation with Audi ahead of time, giving labour leaders a chance to block plans early on. The second one looks into the cooperation after the fact.
Volkswagen shares ended up 4.3 percent at 365.00 euros, while Porsche shares were down 2.1 percent at 46.18 euros.
Source:Reuters
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