BERLIN — Europe could see a new automobile and truck empire emerge after Porsche got clearance from its board Monday to take a majority stake in Volkswagen — just as VW said it would amass a controlling interest in Swedish truckmaker Scania.
The moves could put Porsche Automobil Holding SE — which owns Porsche AG and a nearly 31 percent stake in Volks wagen AG — in a position to also absorb a new commercial truck giant combining Scania with German truckmaker MAN AG, in which Volks wagen holds 29.9 percent.
Analysts said both deals boiled down to making money — lots of it. The moves cement the control held by Ferdinand Piech, grandson of Porsche’s founder and chairman of the supervisory boards of Volkswagen and MAN.
Porsche has been steadily raising its stake in Volkswagen for more than a year and won a significant victory last year when the European Union’s highest court ruled that the German government had to remove a cap on voting rights at VW.
Porsche has not said when it would resume building its holdings in Volkswagen, only that it was now free to do so, and it has said it does not plan to fully merge the companies. But the approval Porsche SE’s supervisory board granted Monday for the company to raise its stake opens up a realm of possibilities.
“Volkswagen has announced that they’re taking a majority share of Scania. Next they could upgrade their stake in MAN to a majority stake, merge the two companies into a Volkswagen Commercial AG and sell that to Porsche SE,” said Christoph Stuermer, an auto analyst with Global Insight.
“Then they could hand back to Porsche . . . or to their stockowners, a special dividend from the revenues of that sale.”
Holding company Porsche SE came into being after the sports car maker boosted its stake in VW to nearly 31 percent last year.
Since the European court ruling, speculation had swirled over when Porsche actually might move to take a majority.
“The reviews by the regulatory authorities are expected to take several months,” Porsche said in a statement. “As soon as the requisite clearances have been obtained, Porsche SE can acquire the majority of the shares in Volks wagen.”
“Our aim is to create one of the strongest and most innovative automobile alliances in the world, which is able to measure up to the increased international competition,” Porsche chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking said.
Wiedeking has said owning a majority stake would help Porsche work with VW — whose brands include Audi, Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti — in developing new models, engines and other components.
