This is an update to:
News Scan: Porsche Will Take Over Volkswagen If The European Court Rules Against The “VW Law”
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, welcomes the judgement of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg according to which the limitation of voting rights to a maximum of 20 percent by the Volkswagen Act is incompatible with EU law. “With a voting interest of just above 30 percent in Volkswagen we obviously have a high interest in exercising our voting rights in full, “ said Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking, Chief Executive Officer of Porsche in a first reaction to the ruling.
The ECJ further ruled that the right granted to the Federal Republic of Germany and the Land of Lower Saxony by the Volkswagen Act to each appoint two members to the supervisory board of Volkswagen as long as they hold more than one share in Volkswagen also violates EU law. As a result, in the future the generally applicable statutory rules will apply to Volkswagen, according to which the shareholders’ representatives in the supervisory board are elected by the General Meeting.
The ECJ also held that the increase of the majority requirement for structural measures from 75 percent to more than 80 percent of the voting shares pursuant to the Volkswagen Act violates applicable EU law. With its judgement the ECJ followed the opinion of the European Commission, according to which key elements of the Volkswagen Act are incompatible with the free movement of capital.
Porsche accepts that the Land of Lower Saxony is appropriately represented on the supervisory board of Volkswagen in accordance with its shareholding. The Porsche representatives on the supervisory board, Chief Executive Officer Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking and Chief Financial Officer Holger Härter, would welcome if the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony Christian Wulff, and his colleague, Minister for Economics Walter Hirche, continued to be members of the supervisory board of the Wolfsburg-based car manufacturer. This would ensure the required continuity of the cooperation based on a spirit of mutual trust.
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