Porsche CEO "Optimistic" Merger With VW Can Be Completed

Porsche Automobil Holding SE (PAH3.XE) said Friday the plan to merge with Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) still stands despite the remaining obstacles and voiced optimism that the related tax issues can be resolved in the foreseeable future.

"Our clear, common goal is and remains the merger," Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn said at the Stuttgart-based sports car maker's annual general meeting, according to a prepared statement.

"We are optimistic - despite the...hurdles that the merger can work out," he added.

In April, Porsche raised around EUR4.9 billion in a capital increase to cut debt below EUR1.5 billion ahead of a planned merger with Volkswagen, Europe's largest automaker by sales. Porsche initially tried to take over its much-larger peer, but the bold plan backfired when credit markets dried up and the company's debt ballooned.

Both Porsche and Volkswagen, which now are run by the same management team, repeatedly stated in recent months that the plan to forge a combined company still stood, even if the deal couldn't be completed in 2011 as initially planned.

The prospects of the merger were thrown into doubt earlier this year when Porsche announced that the merger would be less likely if the related legal and tax issues were to drag on longer than expected. Investigations into alleged market manipulation by prosecutors in Germany and a similar lawsuit in the U.S. are ongoing and aren't likely to be finalized by the end of this year.

Volkswagen bought a 49.9% stake in Porsche's core sports car unit at the end of 2009 and holds options to acquire the remaining 50.1% between Nov. 15, 2012, and Jan. 31, 2015. But Porsche's holding company could remain a separate entity until all tax and legal issues are resolved.

-By Christoph Rauwald, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]