Volkswagen stakeholder sees no need for purchases

Volkswagen's second-largest stakeholder wants Europe's top automaker to do more to tap growing southeast Asian markets but sees no need yet for more acquisitions. The German group is taking over truckmaker MAN SE and completed a long-awaited purchase of sports-car maker Porsche last August after its Audi luxury division bought Italian motorcycle maker Ducati in April 2012.
"VW cover the core segments," Stephan Weil, prime minister of the German state of Lower Saxony, told Reuters when asked whether VW's current 12-brand structure was sufficient. "Even so, whether there will be realignments of (group) boundaries in future is something that I cannot rule out," Weil said in an interview at his office in Hanover.
VW is based in Lower Saxony and a "Volkswagen law" gives the state a veto over fundamental decisions including mergers and acquisitions even though it only has a 20 percent voting stake. Weil, who sits on VW's 20-member supervisory board, says managing a multi-brand group with 100 factories and 550,000 employees world-wide is becoming increasingly difficult. "All parties are aware of the challenge."
VW, which sells 60 percent of vehicles outside its core European market, has had to recall a growing number of cars as it vies for the world's top spot.
Sources close to the German automaker said a decision to sell 1.2 billion euros ($1.6 billion) last week in bonds convertible to preferred stock was meant to bolster finances strained by take-overs and expansion, rather than readying the group for more acquisitions.
Weil backed VW's global expansion course and singled out Southeast Asia, with populous countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, as an area where VW still lacks a production footprint.
"There's still plenty of potential (for growth) out there," he said.
Porsche's holding company owns 50.7 percent of VW's ordinary shares. Qatar Holding, part of the country's sovereign wealth fund, is the third-largest owner with a 17 percent stake.
It said on June 17 it has sold its 10 percent stake in Porsche SE back to the luxury carmaker's family shareholders, but remains committed to its VW holding.
"We're very satisfied with the current ownership structure (at VW)," said Weil, affirming his support for Lower Saxony's 20 percent stake in VW. "It's a manageable number of stakeholders that are all pursuing the same goal.