HAMBURG (Reuters) -- Volkswagen would support the Gulf emirate of Qatar taking a substantial voting stake in either its debt-laden parent Porsche or in VW itself, Europe's largest carmaker said on Monday.

"In principle we view this positively since it would accelerate the process to form an integrated group with 10 brands," a VW spokesman said, using phrasing approved by both companies.

VW ordinary shares rallied on Monday on speculation that Qatar will strike a deal with Porsche by mid-June that will help the sports car maker to pay down its 9 billion euro ($12.8 billion) debt pile.

Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking has already traveled to Qatar several times and has worked out two possible options for an agreement with the emirate, Germany's Focus magazine said in an article published on Monday, without citing sources.

Porsche needs 1.75B euros

Qatar's prime minister said on May 30 that Qatar was considering taking a stake in Porsche or other German auto companies.

One option is for Qatar to buy up Porsche's options for 24 percent of shares of Volkswagen via its fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), flushing cash into Porsche's coffers and giving Volkswagen a new major shareholder.

Another option would be for Qatar to buy a direct stake in Porsche Automobil Holding SE, which controls the company's sports car business as well as its 51 percent stake in Volkswagen.

This option would be more complicated because it would require a capital increase as well as an extraordinary shareholders meeting.

In March, Porsche tried to put together 12.5 billion euros in fresh credit. It needed 10 billion to refinance loans and sought an additional 2.5 billion euros.

But it has only managed to secure 10.75 billion so far and has now asked the German government for a 1.75 billion euros loan via state bank KfW.

VW and Porsche are considering merging after Porsche dropped attempts to take full control of VW.

Piech power struggle

VW's chairman, Ferdinand Piech, is locked in a struggle for control with his cousin Wolfgang Porsche, who chairs the holding company that owns Porsche's sports car business and 51 percent of VW's ordinary shares.

Analysts at Sal Oppenheim estimate Porsche could face a cash loss of about 3.5 billion euros should Qatar buy VW ordinaries at an average price of 80 euros per share, roughly 50 euros below its estimate for the strike price of the put options that Porsche wrote.

"Finding an investor would certainly help Porsche to avoid more critical liquidity issues. However, it is hard to see how it could generate upside for the share price," they wrote.

The bank said it believes Porsche's share price already reflects the assumption that it would find a buyer for 25 percent of VW at the strike price of its put options and that Porsche will get out of the deal relatively unharmed.

"We think that is highly unlikely and reiterate our negative stance on the stock," it wrote, sticking to its "sell" rating and 20 euro fair value.

Porsche shares edged up 0.1 percent to 47.02 euros while VW ordinaries gained 4.2 percent to 251.22 euros by 1103 GMT. VW's preferred stock slipped 0.3 percent to 53.52 euros while the European autos sector index fell 1 percent.