A senior Abu Dhabi official will sign a deal with German carmaker Volkswagen AG during a visit to Berlin which starts on Monday, the UAE's official news agency WAM said on Friday.
WAM said the UAE's deputy prime minister and president's son, Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed al-Nahayan, would sign an "important agreement" with Europe's top carmaker on behalf of Abu Dhabi. It did not give details.
Abu Dhabi is joining forces with Volkswagen and another partner to buy Europe's leading car fleet management firm LeasePlan in a two billion euro ($2.38 billion) deal.
VW Chief Executive Bernd Pischetsrieder said on Thursday that Abu Dhabi may buy a strategic stake in his firm.
Sources close to the LeasePlan deal have said that VW could sell a 10 percent stake worth some 1.6 billion euros to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.
The sale would fund VW's 50 percent share of the LeasePlan venture and gain the automaker a shareholder ally as pressure mounts on Berlin to scrap anti-takeover defences over the firm.
Pressure from the European Commission to scrap a law that gives VW's home state effective control with a voting stake of 20 percent may encourage VW to raise funds by selling to Abu Dhabi rather than distributing the treasury shares more widely.
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