Online report claims Daimler in talks to buy stake in Porsche
Friday saw a well known German magazine "manager magazin" specifying on its website that German car maker Daimler has entered in advance talks with sports car maker Porsche SE, to buy a stake in it.
Citing financial sources, manager-magazin.de said, "Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche and Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking had already discussed potential options at the end of May."
A source close to the matter said that it was not a surprise if different players in the industry were talking to each other, but "we are nowhere near close to a deal."
The report was addressed as pure speculation by a spokesman for Daimler, whereas and a Porsche spokesman said he had no knowledge of talks with Daimler.
But if adhered to the online report then a stake in Porsche could be acquired by Daimler through a capital increase or it could buy derivative instruments which can be converted into Volkswagen shares from Porsche, potentially handing Daimler a stake in Europe's largest carmaker.
Volkswagen spokesperson did not comment anything when asked about the report.