Porsche overtakes Volkswagen as Europe's most valuable carmaker
Cars of German manufacturer Porsche are parked outside the stock exchange prior to Porsche's IPO in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept 29, 2022.
PHOTO: Reuters
PUBLISHED ONOctober 07, 2022 3:42 AM
BERLIN — Porsche took pole position as Europe's most valuable automaker on Thursday (Oct 6), overtaking former parent Volkswagen as the price of the sportscar maker's newly-listed shares sped higher.
Although Porsche shares had fallen below its listing price on Monday to €81 (S$113), in line with a wider fall in markets, they rose to €93 earlier on Thursday, giving the sportscar brand a market valuation of €85 billion.
They later eased to €91.04 by 1308 GMT (9.08pm SGT) but the company's valuation was still well above that of Volkswagen at just under €84 billion.
Porsche's share price regained momentum after investment banks involved in its flotation had purchased almost 3.8 million shares for €312.8 million as part of the so-called greenshoe option, designed to support a listing.
Volkswagen is valued at €77.7 billion with Mercedes-Benz third among European carmakers with a €57.2 billion valuation, followed by BMW at €47.5 billion and Stellantis at €39.7 billion.
"Inflation data from Europe and the United States, recent worries over energy supply in Europe and the escalation of the war in Ukraine last Thursday led to fluctuations which made small-scale stabilisation measures necessary," a spokesperson for Volkswagen said.
Porsche is the fifth most valuable listed company in Germany, after Linde, SAP, Deutsche Telekom and Siemens, and the 25th most valuable stock in Europe, above giants like Glencore.
The shares purchased between Sept 29 and Oct 4 represented around 11 per cent of the total trading volume since the listing, the spokesperson added, consisting of around 34 million shares.
Overall, up to 14.85 million shares worth €1.2 billion are available via the greenshoe option in the four weeks after the offering as a stabilisation measure.
Bank of America acquired the shares for between €81 - 82.50, compared to the original issue price of €82.50, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
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