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Porsche on the financial brink
The Telegraph ^ | 5/25/2009 | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Posted on 05/25/2009 5:21:46 PM PDT by bruinbirdman

German car maker Porsche is struggling to raise €1.75bn (£1.54bn) to cover debts and unwind derivative positions stemming from its botched attempt to take over vastly-bigger Volkswagen.

Porsche's shares fell 3.1pc in Frankfurt on Monday after it emerged that the company had obtained a €700m loan from Volkswagen as long ago as March. A Porsche spokesman said the group is negotiating bridging finance with a variety of banks, including the state lender KfW.

It is understood that Porsche is also in talks with the Bank of Tokyo for a €750m loan, and is seeking help from the regional government of Baden-Wurttemberg.

The crisis is yet another headache for the German authorities as they put together a rescue deal this week for Opel, most likely with Fiat. Separately, the hotel and retail group Arcandor said it faced collapse without a €650m state bail-out. Arcandor's share price fell 20pc. The company owns the Karstadt department stores, Quelle, and Thomas Cook. It employs 50,000 workers.

Porsche acquired a 51pc share of VW earlier this year after a series of derivatives deals that tripled Porsche's debt to €9bn.

The takeover bid went badly wrong, forcing Porsche chief Ferdinand Piech to press instead for a merger of the two car makers on increasingly less favourable terms.

Porsche's travails are largely due to financial acrobatics, not falling sales.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Germany; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: automakers; germany; porsche
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To: Ditter
It is probably the most uncomfortable car I have ever ridden in.

It's a sports car, it's not designed for comfort.

21 posted on 05/25/2009 5:49:45 PM PDT by Wil H (The most destructive act of Muslim terrorism against the US was paying for 0bama's Harvard education)
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To: Ditter

Do you know which model it is?

I’d love to have a 911 from the mid 1980s. Non turbo is fine.


22 posted on 05/25/2009 5:50:18 PM PDT by Yardstick
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To: Paladin2

I guess you would them call it the BOrsche?


23 posted on 05/25/2009 5:53:00 PM PDT by biff
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To: Yardstick

I don’t know what the year or model is but it is newer than the 80’s.


24 posted on 05/25/2009 5:54:39 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: shibumi
and the Chevy Cobalt SS (affordable end.)

If you are referring to the supercharged SS, it was cancelled in 2008.

25 posted on 05/25/2009 5:55:05 PM PDT by ColdWater
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To: ColdWater

Got me a 2006 model. Coupe. Black. FAST! Corners real good too!


26 posted on 05/25/2009 5:56:30 PM PDT by shibumi (" ..... then we will fight in the shade.")
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To: Wil H
I like the ‘vette’s though. And the GT-40. And the Mustang GT. And a new Challenger and a new Camaro, too.

The Ford GT, which is Ford's modern recreation of the GT 40 is in a class of it's own compared the Z06, Mustang or Camaro.

I have driven all of them on the track, and while the Z06 is an excellent car it still doesn't come close to the Ford GT.

Ford called their car the "Ford GT" since they couldn't use the name "GT 40" because Eric Broadley (Lola Cars), who built the original Le Mans vehicles, still owns the rights to the name.

27 posted on 05/25/2009 5:57:41 PM PDT by Wil H (The most destructive act of Muslim terrorism against the US was paying for 0bama's Harvard education)
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To: freedumb2003

Check out the Nissan GTR. One, bad automobile!


28 posted on 05/25/2009 6:00:03 PM PDT by 31R1O ("Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life."- Immanuel Kant)
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To: bruinbirdman
unwind derivative positions

A statement with no meaning!!!

29 posted on 05/25/2009 6:11:11 PM PDT by org.whodat
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To: shibumi
ROFLOL, keep your tow insurance paid up!!!!

Oh, wait we tax payer are going to take care of that for you. So I guess we have heard from one of the welfare receivers.

30 posted on 05/25/2009 6:13:14 PM PDT by org.whodat
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To: clee1
The moral of this story: stick with what you know, and quit trying to make a dishonest buck with financial shenanigans!

Boy would we all be a lot better off if the wall street crowd had practiced that about 8 years ago!!

31 posted on 05/25/2009 6:15:32 PM PDT by org.whodat
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To: org.whodat

“We” = plural.

“Payer” = singular.

“Welfare receivers” - Are those the digital thingys for the TV that the feds were paying for?

As for the car, 30,000 miles. Not even a hiccup.


32 posted on 05/25/2009 6:23:37 PM PDT by shibumi (" ..... then we will fight in the shade.")
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To: 31R1O

“Check out the Nissan GTR. One, bad automobile!”

Good performance for the $. Maybe on par with Corvette?

Up a couple of notches up would be the Audi R8 with the 10 cylinder, 550 hp powerplant. Supremely balanced!! Street and trackwise.

And the Audi is part of the VW company.

Instead of Porsche buying VW, perhaps VW should buy Porche?

Is it money, egos, ?

They do share chassis and other technology (Taureg/Cayenne, etc.).


33 posted on 05/25/2009 6:27:26 PM PDT by truth_seeker
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To: brivette

“have you driven a porsche, lately?”

Ya

Sehr gut


34 posted on 05/25/2009 6:34:19 PM PDT by truth_seeker
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To: shibumi

I guess you have never drove a Porsche?
Vastly different cars..


35 posted on 05/25/2009 6:40:57 PM PDT by GSP.FAN
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To: Red_Devil 232
Porsche? That is pronounced like the name of that midget who sits on telephone books when testifying in front of Congress?

The difference is that the Porsche actually is useful and desirable...

36 posted on 05/25/2009 6:44:10 PM PDT by PugetSoundSoldier (Indignation over the sting of truth is the defense of the indefensible)
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To: GSP.FAN

You guess wrong.

I have driven many Porsches.

I just don’t like them.


37 posted on 05/25/2009 6:45:02 PM PDT by shibumi (" ..... then we will fight in the shade.")
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To: bruinbirdman
Had a 944 and a 280Z, preferred the Z.
38 posted on 05/25/2009 6:53:10 PM PDT by razorback-bert (We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.)
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To: bruinbirdman

Very Shakespearean. Porsche’s Plea For Mercy.


39 posted on 05/25/2009 6:59:40 PM PDT by Erasmus (Barack Hussein Obama: America's toast!)
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To: shibumi
I have driven many Porsches.

That's fine but comparing them to VW is like a chevette to a Corvette..
No comparison..

40 posted on 05/25/2009 7:00:33 PM PDT by GSP.FAN
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