VW Unions Want 3% Voting Stake; May Start Building Stake In 2011
08 6월 2011 - 9:18PM
Dow Jones News
Volkswagen AG's (VOW.XE) labor unions want to take a voting
stake of up to 3% in the company to safeguard workers' rights at a
time when Europe's largest auto maker by sales is pursuing a global
expansion plan to overtake world leader Toyota Motor Corp.
(7203.TO) by 2018.
"We want Volkswagen's staff in the future to be able to exert
its influence at shareholder meetings through a voting stake of two
to three percent," Volkswagen's top labor representative and deputy
supervisory board chairman, Bernd Osterloh, told Dow Jones in an
emailed statement.
"We're optimistic that we (can start building) a stakeholding in
the course of this year," he said.
Osterloh said the preparations for meeting all legal
requirements had almost concluded and talks about the
implementation are due to start soon.
The financial details as well as terms and conditions will be
subject of talks with Volkswagen's management. A voting stake in
Volkswagen of 3% would be worth roughly EUR980 million.
A spokesman for Volkswagen wasn't immediately available for
comment.
The plan to take a substantial stake in the company reflects
growing confidence among labor unions, which traditionally have had
a strong influence at Volkswagen, as the Wolfsburg-based company is
on track for a new sales record in 2011, driven by booming demand
in China, Brazil and Russia.
Volkswagen is investing heavily in expanding production capacity
in emerging markets as part of its global expansion plan and it
opened a new U.S. plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., last month.
Reports about plans to shift some production of best-selling
models such as the Tiguan or the Golf abroad has sparked anger
among German labor unions in recent days.
At 0958 GMT, Volkswagen's common stock, which carries voting
rights, traded down EUR2.35 at EUR111.15.
Volkswagen's common shares were replaced by the company's
preference shares in the blue-chip DAX-30 index in December 2009
after the common stock's free float fell below the 10% threshold.
Volkswagen's preference shares don't carry voting rights.
A 3% voting stake would make Volkswagen's employees the
company's fourth-largest shareholder after Porsche Automobil
Holding SE (PAH3.XE) with a 50.7% stake, the German state of Lower
Saxony with just above 20% and Qatar Holding LLC with 17%.
The deal would be based on a plan drafted in August 2009 after
Volkswagen's labor unions in a joint effort with the company's
management successfully averted the takeover launched by Porsche's
former chief executive, Wendelin Wiedeking, and former chief
financial officer, Holger Haerter.
On Aug. 13, 2009, Volkswagen's supervisory board rubber-stamped
a plan to forge a combined company with Porsche after the
Stuttgart-based sports car maker's attempt to gain control of its
much-larger peer backfired when credit markets dried up.
Volkswagen's board stated at the time that it would be willing
"to offer a substantial investment opportunity to the world-wide
employees."
Osterloh said it hasn't been decided yet through which legal
form the labor representatives could take the stake in the
company.
-By Christoph Rauwald, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 512;
christoph.rauwald@dowjones.com
Porsche Automobile (PK) (USOTC:POAHY)
과거 데이터 주식 차트
부터 6월(6) 2024 으로 7월(7) 2024
Porsche Automobile (PK) (USOTC:POAHY)
과거 데이터 주식 차트
부터 7월(7) 2023 으로 7월(7) 2024