Stuttgart - Porsche, the German sports car maker which is
struggling under an enormous debt after its failed bid to seize
control of Volkswagen, said Monday it would try anew to obtain a
government anti-recession loan.
The German federal bank KfW was reported last week to have turned
down a request from Stuttgart-based Porsche SE for aid, saying
Porsche would have to offer better terms.
'We are going to do so quickly,' said a Porsche spokesman. Porsche
applied at the start of this month for 1.75 billion euros (2.5
billion dollars) to tide it over.
Sources have told the German Press Agency dpa that KfW rejected
the bid, saying it had no assurance that the money would not be used
to seize control of Volkswagen.
Nor had Porsche explained how it planned to repay the grand total
of 12.5 billion euros in loans it is seeking from all its banks, the
sources said.
The loan and a new outside shareholder would be essential if
Porsche is to escape efforts by Volkswagen to seize control of it.
A respected analyst meanwhile deprecated suggestions that Daimler,
maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, might be in talks to take an equity
stake in Porsche and rescue it from VW.
'Daimler needs all its money for itself,' Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer,
a professor who studies automobile industry economics, told dpa.
Porsche SE is already in talks with the Qatar Investment Authority
about an equity injection.
Porsche SE may argue that last week's disclosure of a steep fall
in sales of the expensive, high-performance cars made by its Porsche
AG manufacturing unit qualifies it for a KfW loan.
Porsche ran up its debt in an ill-fated attempt to obtain three
quarters of Volkswagen. The larger carmaker is now offering to unwind
the debt in exchange for a takeover of Porsche AG.
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