Porsche to race onto German stock exchange with mega IPO

Porsche to race onto German stock exchange with mega IPO

FRANKFURT: Luxury sports carmaker Porsche will this week race onto the Frankfurt stock exchange in what is set to be one of Europe’s biggest listings in years, seeking to defy recent market turbulence. While the listing comes at a difficult time for global markets-roiled by the war in Ukraine and surging inflation-the maker of the 9-11 sports car expects to leverage its brand power. “Some potential clients may not yet be able to afford a Porsche, but they can buy the shares,” said Lutz Meschke, deputy chairman of the company’s board.

Parent company Volkswagen hopes Thursday’s flotation will raise up to 9.4 billion euros ($9.2 billion) and are targeting a valuation of up to 75 billion euros for Porsche. Some of the cash will be ploughed into Volkswagen’s high-speed drive towards electric vehicles, which has brought the legacy carmaker into more direct competition with US rival Tesla.

In terms of value of shares issued, Porsche’s is set to be the biggest stock market debut in Germany since Deutsche Telekom’s in 1996, and the largest in Europe since the 2011 flotation of Switzerland-based commodities giant Glencore. Analysts are looking to the carmaker’s market entry for some cheer in a morose economic backdrop.

“The Porsche AG IPO