It wasn’t the most ideal time for Porsche AG to get listed, but the German carmaker shrugged off the market conditions and made a strong start.
Volkswagen listed the sports car brand at a valuation of 75 billion euros ($72 billion) in what was Germany’s second-biggest market debut (since Deutsche Telekom in 1996). Up to 113,875,000 Porsche AG preferred shares, carrying no voting rights, were sold in the initial public offering.
The share price rose on its debut on Thursday. It opened at 84 euros ($81) after being priced at the top end of the range at 82.50 euros that helped the company raise 19.5 billion euros. It closed the day on 83.18 euros ($81.88).
Among the cornerstone investors in Porsche’s listing, who jointly picked up 40 percent of the shares on offer, are Abu Dhabi’s ADQ, which invested 350 million euros ($344.5 million) and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which bought 4.99 percent of the offering. T Rowe Price and Norway’s sovereign wealth fund invested 750 million euros each.
Porsche’s flotation comes at a time with German and European investors worrying about the possibility of a recession, rampant inflation, rising interest rates and Russia’s war in Ukraine that has caused an unprecedented energy crisis.
Porsche’s valuation reached 77.4 billion euros at one stage on Thursday, close to the 80.1 billion euro market capitalisation of Volkswagen as a group.
Arno Antlitz, Volkswagen’s chief financial officer, told CNBC: “Today is a great day for Porsche and a great day for Volkswagen. We were convinced despite the challenging environment this IPO would prove successful, and we were right.”
Follow us on
