The largest European car maker Volkswagen said on Tuesday that it has finalized the purchase of the automobile trading business of Porsche Holding Salzburg (PHS) for a sum of 3.3 billion Euros (about $4.55 billion). The company said in a statement that the acquisition is the "next major step towards the creation of the integrated automotive group of Volkswagen and Porsche."
In the words of VW chairman Martin Winterkorn, PHS is one of the world's most efficient and profitable automobile trading companies. The company takes care of distribution and sale of Porsche sports-cars.
According to a statement given by VW sales director Christian Klingler, "Under the Volkswagen group umbrella, PHS will retain its status as an independent organizational unit and continue with its business model unchanged. All assets remain intact."
Porsche is all set to become the 10th brand of Volkswagen as about 49.9 percent of core manufacturing unit of Porsche is owned by this European auto giant, and it plans to acquire the remaining in coming months.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in Stuttgart (southern Germany) are pursuing a probe into former Porsche executives for his connection with a failed attempt by Porsche to take over the much bigger VW, through suspected stock price manipulation.
