Car maker Volkswagen has set out plans to raise as much as €10 billion from shareholders. Analysts said this would be enough to make fresh acquisitions as well as merge with Porsche.
Volkswagen, which has a market value of €43 billion, said it would seek approval in December to issue up to 135 million new preferred shares by December 2014, a large portion of which could enter the market by the middle of next year.
News of the share issue plans, whose scale took some observers by surprise, followed comments by VW's powerful chairman last month. He hinted that Europe's largest car maker could expand its stable of brands to 12 from nine.
VW is going through a multi-stage process to integrate with Porsche by 2011, and both companies have made several moves to shore up their balance sheets.
By issuing preferred shares, VW avoids diluting the voting stakes of shareholders, which include Porsche with 51% and the German state of Lower Saxony with about 20%. VW said the cash was needed to buy the sports car business of Porsche, but analysts said the money would give it extra scope for further buys.
