Part of the restructuring

Porsche acquires majority stake in Varta subsidiary

(Bild: APA/dpa/Stefan Puchner)

Porsche has acquired a majority stake in Varta's car battery subsidiary V4Drive Battery. The Volkswagen subsidiary now holds 70 percent of the shares, as the car manufacturer announced in Stuttgart. Varta, the financially troubled battery company owned by Austrian investor Michael Tojner and Porsche, will retain a 30 percent stake.

The takeover, which took place on March 1, had already been announced and is part of the rescue plan for the medium-sized company, which is currently having to reposition itself. Porsche is investing 30 million euros.

In future, the company will be called V4Smart and aims to tap into new customer groups for ultra-high-performance lithium-ion round cells. The cells are already being used in series production as booster cells in Porsche's 911 GTS models.

Porsche supports Varta with restructuring
Production of the booster cells is currently taking place at the Ellwangen site. From April, the round cells will also be produced at a new facility at the Nördlingen site, as Porsche also announced. The joint venture plans to create around 375 jobs at both production sites by the end of 2025, taking on many employees from the Varta Group.

Porsche confirmed its intention to also acquire a stake in Varta in order to support the company in its restructuring. The plan provides for a reduction of the share capital to zero as part of the restructuring. This means that the free shareholders will lose all their money. The capital will then be increased again. This had triggered fierce criticism. The Varta restructuring is part of the German Restructuring Act StaRUG, which is intended to spare companies in crisis from insolvency proceedings.