FRANKFURT -- A large Porsche Automobile SE stake owned by former Volkswagen Group Chairman Ferdinand Piech may be bought by other members of the Porsche and Piech clans before May 30, German weekly Bild am Sonntag said.
Porsche SE said on Friday that Piech wanted to sell his 14.7 percent stake in the family-controlled holding company, which is worth at least 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion). It said that although the Porsche and Piech families were in talks to buy much of that stake, it was not clear if a deal would go ahead.
The Porsche and Piech families control 52 percent of VW Group's common stock through their holding company Porsche SE, and have a right of first refusal to buy Piech's stake, which equates to a 7.35 percent economic stake in Volkswagen.
The share package could change hands before the Porsche SE annual general meeting on May 30, Bild am Sonntag said, citing a person familiar with the deliberations.
If Piech, who turns 80 next month, were to sell his stake, it would mark the end of an era for Volkswagen which he dominated for decades. He transformed VW from a regional manufacturer into a global powerhouse, which owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat and Skoda brands.
