German securities watchdog BaFin has opened an official investigation into trading of Porsche shares prior to the sports car maker’s investment in Volkswagen, Reuters reported on Friday.
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“We’re examining conspicuous movements in the share price of Porsche before the company stated it had bought a stake in Volkswagen,” a spokeswoman for BaFin told the news agency, adding: “It has to do with transactions before the drop in the (Porsche) share price.”
Reuters noted that, late in September, Porsche announced its intention to buy some 20% of the voting rights in VW – making it at one stroke the biggest shareholder. Its stock fell nearly 12% on the news.
The move elicited a storm of controversy over whether Porsche’s actions inaugurated a return of “Germany Inc”, where domestic firms protected each other from external pressure and possible hostile takeover bids through an elaborate system of cross shareholdings, the report added.
The German securities watchdog is continuing a parallel probe into whether Porsche should have had to publish its intentions concerning VW as well, Reuters noted.
The spokeswoman also told the news agency that a routine examination regarding possible insider trading and share price manipulation in VW stock as a result of Porsche’s stake acquisition had ended after no indications of either were uncovered.
