Προβλήματα αντιμετωπίζει η Porsche σχετικά με μια κρατική επιδότηση που πήρε ύψους 522 εκατ. ευρώ ώστε να κατασκευάσει την Macan στο εργοστάσιο της στη Λειψίας η οποία είχε κατατεθεί το Δεκέμβριο του 2011 και προβλέπει την επιδότηση της κατασκευής της Macan στο εργοστάσιο της Λειψίας από τα τέλη του 2013.
Η Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή Ανταγωνισμού ανακοίνωσε ότι θα διεξάγει έρευνα ώστε να διαπιστώσει να η κρατική επιδότηση είναι παράνομη σε σχέση με τους ισχύοντες νόμους ανταγωνισμού της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης .
H επιτροπή αναφέρει ότι έρευνα πρέπει για τον λόγο ότι τόσο η Porsche όσο και η VW έχουνε μεγάλο ποσοστό στο μερίδιο αγοράς, και “θα εξετάσει αν η επιδότηση είναι απαραίτητη και ανάλογη της τελικής επένδυσης και αν η προσπάθεια ενίσχυσης της τοπικής ανάπτυξης δεν αποτελεί στρέβλωση του ανταγωνισμού”.
Η Porsche απάντησε στην επιτροπή ότι οι διαδικασίες κατασκευής στο εργοστάσιο της Λειψίας έχουν ήδη ξεκινήσει εδώ και αρκετούς μήνες και αν τελικά δεν εγκριθεί η επιδότηση, τότε θα τα πληρώσει μόνη της.
[Πηγή: Porsche, Europa | Photo Copyright: REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz/Files]
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State aid: Commission opens in-depth investigation into regional aid for Porsche in Leipzig
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to examine whether regional aid in favour of German car maker Porsche in Saxony is in line with EU state aid rules. Given the high market shares of Volkswagen-Porsche and the capacity increase brought about by the investment the Commission has to undertake an in-depth assessment of the aid. The Commission will check whether the aid is necessary and proportionate to provide an incentive for the investment and whether its contribution to regional development outweighs the distortion of competition. The opening of an investigation gives interested third parties an opportunity to submit comments on the measures under examination. It does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.
In December 2011, Germany notified regional aid for Porsche Leipzig GmbH and Porsche AG, both subsidiaries of the Volkswagen-Porsche Group, for an investment project in Leipzig, in the region of Saxony, Germany. The project aims at manufacturing a new passenger car model, the “Porsche Macan”. The total investment costs amount to € 521.56 million. Germany intends to support the project with €43.67 million in the form of a direct grant and an investment premium. The investment project started in April 2011 and its completion is planned for 2014.
Leipzig is eligible for regional aid to further the development of certain economic activities or sectors, pursuant to Article 107(3)(c) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU).
Background
The EU Regional Aid Guidelines (see IP/05/1653) stipulate that the Commission may approve such aid within the preliminary examination phase only if the beneficiary’s market share and the capacity increase created by the investment do not exceed certain thresholds.
If, as in the present case, the Commission considers that these thresholds are exceeded, it has to carry out an in-depth investigation on the basis of the method laid down in its Communication on the assessment of regional aid for large investment projects (see IP/09/993). This assessment verifies, in a first step, whether the aid is necessary to attract the investment into the region. In the affirmative, the Commission assesses in a second step whether the overall benefits for regional development outweigh the distortion of competition and trade between Member States brought about by the public intervention.
Similar questions as in today’s decision are currently being examined in two other pending Commission investigations concerning Volkswagen-Porsche (seeIP/09/1631 and IP/11/875).
The non-confidential version of the decision will be made available under the case number SA.34118 in the State Aid Register on the DG Competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved. New publications of state aid decisions on the internet and in the Official Journal are listed in the State Aid Weekly e-News.
Investors show strong demand for Porsche refinancing
Porsche issues a 500 million euro promissory note (Schuldscheindarlehen)
Stuttgart. With a 500 million euro promissory note benchmark transaction, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG was able to repeat its successful placement of the promissory note of 2011. Due to the high interest of investors, Porsche was able to realise a substantial oversubscription of the initial volume of 200 million euro.
“We are delighted that we could repeat the success of the previous year. The overwhelming demand of investors was even considerably above our internal limit of 500 million euro. That shows a clear testimony to the strength of the Porsche brand also in the capital market,” said Lutz Meschke, Member of the Executive Board for Finance and IT of the Zuffenhausen sports car maker. “The promissory note is an important instrument in order to reduce Porsches’ interest expenses. The inflows from this placement will be completely used for the repayment of a high-yield U.S. dollar bond. Hence the promissory note we have issued is a component of our strategy of decreasing the interest expenses of Porsche AG and to further reduce the level of net debt in the automotive business”, Mr. Meschke explained further on.
The promissory note was arranged by Landesbank Baden-Württemberg and UniCredit Bank AG in four tranches with fixed and variable interest rates and maturities of four and six years. The investors, mainly from Germany, were Cooperative banks (Volksbanken), savings banks, Federal State banks and institutional banks as well as asset management firms.
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