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Prosecutors drop appeal
after ex-Porsche CEO cleared of market manipulation
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 [July 28, 2016]
BERLIN (Reuters) - German
prosecutors on Thursday dropped an appeal against a court ruling that
acquitted former Porsche SE chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking of
market manipulation during a 2008-9 takeover battle with Volkswagen.
Prosecutors in Stuttgart, where Porsche is based, said they still
believed Wiedeking and his former finance chief Holger Haerter
misled investors about their intentions to control Volkswagen (VW),
but saw no chance of their appeal succeeding.
However, Porsche SE compliance chief Manfred Doess said in an
emailed statement: "The prosecutors' accusations have turned out to
be completely unfounded following a comprehensive clearance by the
regional court of Stuttgart."
In March 2008, Porsche SE dismissed as "speculation" talk it
intended to take over VW. Seven months later, the holding company
said it controlled 42.6 percent of VW's common shares and held
options for another 31.5 percent of the stock it had not disclosed
previously.
Porsche was forced to abandon the takeover in 2009 when its
financing unraveled amid the financial crisis, which opened the door
for VW to acquire the Porsche sports-car brand in stages.
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Former Chief Executive Officer of German luxury car company Porsche
AG, Wendelin Wiedeking leaves the court with and his lawyer Hanns
Feigen (L) in Stuttgart, Germany March 18, 2016, after being
aquitted of alleged market manipulation in the wake of one of the
auto industry's most controversial takeover battles.
REUTERS/Michaela Rehle
Besides a custodial sentence for Wiedeking and a fine for the former CEO and
CFO, the prosecutors had also sought a fine of more than 800 million euros
($887.04 million) for Porsche SE, which is VW's majority shareholder.
(Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach Writing by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Mark
Potter)
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