Porsche shares have risen on their first day of trading as the sports carmaker shrugged off a worsening global economy in a €75bn (£67bn) stock market float, the largest European listing for more than a decade.
The shares were issued at €82.50 on the Frankfurt stock exchange on Thursday, before rising in value to €86.30 by late morning.
The German carmaker Volkswagen listed 12.5% of Porsche’s shares to raise the billions of euros needed to invest in electric cars – as well as hoping the sports car company would be able to match its Italian rival Ferrari, which has been able to attract a valuation more typical of luxury fashion brands.
The deal raised €19.5bn, about half of which will go to Volkswagen. Volkswagen intends to pay a dividend using part of the proceeds.
Volkswagen and Porsche have been intertwined since their foundations, when Ferdinand Porsche founded a car company in the 1930s, before designing the original “people’s car”. While the companies will be listed separately, they will retain the same chief executive, Oliver Blume, suggesting there will be little departure in management style or strategic approach to the electric transition.
The spinout will, however, allow the Porsche-Piëch family, Volkswagen’s largest shareholder, to regain control of Porsche a decade after they ceded control of it to Volkswagen.
Dom Tribe, a partner and automotive sector specialist at the management consultancy Vendigital, said: “This IPO [initial public offering] will make it possible for the Piëch family to regain a controlling stake in Porsche – a move that probably wouldn’t be feasible any other way.
“Importantly, it will also deliver a large injection of funds to accelerate VW’s ambitious plan to overtake Tesla as the world’s leading EV [electric vehicle] manufacturer by 2024, which could cost the company in excess of £50bn.”
Blume said he was very positive about the opening price, Reuters reported. He also rejected criticism of his roles as chief executive of both companies. “We made this decision very consciously – there is no time horizon in which it will be re-evaluated,” Blume said, speaking next to an electric Porsche Taycan parked outside Börse Frankfurt.
