The latest, complicated twist in the Porsche-VW saga is now underway, as the german financial watchdog has okayed Porsche's bid for outright control of the House Of Golf. The Weissach sports car maker was obliged to make the bid once it had purchased 30% of VW.
However, the bid is fraught with difficulty, not least the fact that the EU may frown upon it, and the fact that the German State Of Lower Saxony still owns a 21% stake. But being as the EU also frowns on state aid for independent companies, maybe they'll consider the Porsche bid to be the lesser of two evils.
Whatever, it's not even certain that Porsche wants outright control of VW. The buying up of VW stock has been seen, variously, as an attempt by Porsche to access better prices from suppliers by using VW's buying power, a prudent investment of Porsche's new-gotten wealth by chairman Wendelien Weideking or a despotic takeover of his old firm by Porsche nephew/chairman Ferdinand Piech.
It now seems more odd than any of those things though. More and more, the Porsche takeover seems like an attempt to ensure that a majority of VW stock can't be purchased by any other than a German company.
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