The battery company Varta has to worry about its future. Now help is coming from a sports car manufacturer that uses an important Varta product.
The sports car manufacturer Porsche wants to get involved in the financially troubled battery company Varta. The Stuttgart-based car manufacturer plans to take over a majority stake in Varta’s car battery subsidiary V4Drive Battery, Porsche AG in Stuttgart announced. Porsche also said it was willing to participate “with other partners” in the financial restructuring of Varta AG, it said. Porsche’s investment would amount to 30 million euros.
“In this context, it is planned that Porsche will acquire a majority stake in V4Drive Battery GmbH through a capital increase – largely against a contribution in kind,” Porsche announced. In this company, Varta is bundling the business for large-format lithium-ion round cells that are used in the hybrid drive of the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS.
Participation in the restructuring process
Porsche explained that participation in the financial restructuring will take place as part of the planned restructuring process. Antitrust approvals in various countries are also a prerequisite for the takeover of V4Drive.
Varta’s majority shareholder, Michael Tojner, said at the beginning of August that he hoped to have a clarification of Varta’s future by the end of the year. “We hope to have a solution by the end of August or the beginning of September,” Tojner told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. This result would then have to go through the process under the Corporate Stabilization and Restructuring Act (StaRUG). The battery company had filed for pre-insolvency restructuring proceedings in July.
According to previous statements by CEO Michael Ostermann, in order to secure production until 2027, the group needs around 100 million euros in fresh money and a debt cut. Varta owes major lenders such as banks and hedge funds almost half a billion euros.
Source: Stern
