Ex-VW Chief Looks to Sell $1.2 Billion Stake, Creating Uncertainty -<br />By JACK EWINGMARCH 17, 2017<br />BADEN BADEN, Germany — Ferdinand Piëch, the scion of an automaking dynasty who dominated Volkswagen for two decades, is trying to sell his substantial<br />stake in the company to members of his extended family, which could create uncertainty in the aftermath of the carmaker’s diesel deception.<br />But implicit in the disclosure on Friday by Porsche Automobil Holding, the holding company for the family’s combined stake, was<br />that Mr. Piëch could sell his stake of about 15 percent, valued at €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion), to an outsider if he could not agree on terms with his relatives.<br />Mr. Piëch, a former chief executive and supervisory board chairman at Volkswagen, was often a source of discord among the quarrelsome Piëch<br />and Porsche clans, which own more than 50 percent of Volkswagen’s voting shares.<br />“The Chinese would not pass up such a chance.”<br />Wolfgang Porsche, a spokesman for Porsche family members, has told the German news media that the relatives would be willing to buy the stake.<br />Word that Mr. Piëch may sell his stake comes after a tumultuous week for Volkswagen<br />that showed how much the emissions scandal continues to damage the company’s reputation.<br />And even if they were unable to, he said in comments confirmed Friday by a spokesman for Porsche<br />Automobil Holding, the family would not have a problem with a new outside shareholder.
