Volkswagen has reached an agreement with banks on the terms of a planned €20bn bridge loan to help it shoulder the costs of its emissions scandal, three people familiar with the matter said.
Europe's largest car manufacturer is under pressure to shore up its finances as it faces multi-billion-euro costs of regulatory fines, lawsuits and refits of about 11 million diesel vehicles.
Thirteen banks are offering credit portions of either €1.5bn €2.5bn each, or a total of €29bn, two of the people told Reuters, declining to be named because the matter is confidential.
One of the people said credit portions would be assigned to banks on Friday. Another person said that would happen in the coming days, without being more specific.
A spokesman for VW declined comment.
Volkswagen has set aside €6.7bn for the initial costs of the diesel emissions scandal and has said it expects additional expenses of at least €2bn for falsifying certification of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Analysts have said securing funding from banks in the wake of the scandals, which have wiped billions off the group's market value, would help signal investors that VW remains a robust borrower.
Standard & Poor's downgraded VW's credit rating to 'BBB+' from 'A-', the latest demotion of the carmaker's credit worthiness following similar moves by peers Fitch and Moody's.
Meanwhile, the number of new Volkswagen cars registered in Germany declined by 2% in November, but VW remained the biggest-selling brand in its home country, according to official data.
New registrations of VW cars declined by 2% to 57,923 vehicles last month, the federal transport authority KBA calculated in regular monthly data, which also showed that VW's share of the German market stood at 21.3%.
