By Alexander Hübner
MUNICH (Reuters) -German battery maker Varta on Sunday said it is discussing two restructuring scenarios that could potentially lead to luxury sportscar maker Porsche taking a stake in it.
Varta said in a statement that the two scenarios included one with potential new investors, among them existing Austrian majority shareholder Michael Tojner and Porsche, as well as one with financial creditors.
Varta said it had decided to notify the relevant courts of an overhaul in accordance with Germany’s corporate stabilization and restructuring act, adding that without such an overhaul the firm would have to incur losses that would consume its share capital.
Varta, which has a market value of 440 million euros ($479 million), said earlier this month it was in talks with Porsche over a potential investment by the carmaker in its V4Drive business, which, under the plans, would be transferred to a subsidiary.
Under the previous plans, Porsche would become a majority owner of the division. Sunday’s disclosure, meanwhile, could see Porsche take a direct stake in Varta itself.
Porsche said it could confirm that it was in negotiations with a view to acquire a majority stake in V4Drive via a possible capital increase.
“The prerequisite for this is a sound financial basis for Varta AG. Under certain circumstances, we could therefore imagine participating in a financial restructuring of Varta AG as a whole. Discussions on this are still ongoing,” Porsche said in a statement.
Varta said in April it might not meet targets set under its restructuring plan and was exploring recapitalisation options that should help it return to “profitable growth” by the end of 2026.
($1 = 0.9194 euros)
