VW Porsche takeover

The supervisory boards of Volkswagen and Porsche both have approved contracts pertaining to an acquisition agreement with Porsche that was outlined in May, which would make Porsche the tenth brand name under Volkswagen.

The contracts between the two German car makers contain organizational, structural, and legal details that represent the next step in the merger plan, which is estimated to be complete in 2011. VW's approval came on Thursday, and Porsche's followed a day later.

The deal is expected to continue forward at a meeting of Volkswagen shareholders, scheduled for December 3, to approve taking on a 49.9 percent stake in Porsche. The deal is estimated to be worth around 3.9 billion euros ($5.9 billion).

Originally, the terms of the deal were swapped and it was Porsche who planned on taking over Volkswagen. But after collecting massive debt during its takeover bid, Porsche was forced to renegotiate the terms of the deal and put Volkswagen in the driver's seat.

VW also announced on Friday that it had purchased some assets of German car parts maker Karmann, which it plans to fold into a new subsidary. It said it would begin making some cars at Karmann's Osnabrueck factory in 2011, but did not specify the make or model or give further financial details.

mz/AFP/AP/dpa
Editor: Andreas Illmer