The Volkswagen annual general meeting last week brought no resolution in the dispute between Volkswagen’s largest shareholder, Porsche, and second largest shareholder, the state of Lower Saxony.
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There were heated exchanges but resolutions on Lower Saxony’s power of veto put forward by both parties were not successful. The only way forward is a court ruling on Lower Saxony’s right of veto, according to the state’s president, Christian Wulff.
Porsche is expected to gain majority control of Volkswagen by September or October, reported dpa. When it does, it wants to have full control over decisions, and wants a normal working majority of 75% to apply. At present Lower Saxony has a power of veto with just over 20% shareholding, as enshrined in Volkswagen’s articles of association.
Workers are worried that Porsche will try to reduce the workforce and that it will fail to favour existing plant locations over lower cost locations in the future.
Several hundred workers protested against Porsche outside the meeting. Porsche said it did not plan to reduce the number of jobs, and that it had no plans to float Audi or Seat, according to Automobilwoche.
