VW urges Porsche to accept merger - Spiegel

FRANKFURT, June 27 (Reuters) - Volkswagen (VOWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) and its key shareholder, the state of Lower Saxony, have urged Porsche (PSHG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) to accept a tie-up of the two carmakers with VW in charge, Spiegel magazine reported in its online edition on Saturday.

Porsche Chief Executive Wendelin Wiedeking and Chairman Wolfgang Porsche have been pressed to agree by the end of June that VW takes a 49 percent stake in Porsche's sports car business for 3-4 billion euros ($4.2-$5.6 billion), Spiegel online reported without citing sources.

According to the proposal, the Emirate of Qatar would buy Porsche's stock options in VW, which would subsequently integrate the Porsche sports car business into its operations.

VW would not comment on the report. Porsche, which owns 51 percent in VW, and the Emirate of Qatar were not immediately available for comment.

The Porsche and Piech families, 20 percent owned by Lower Saxony, 15 percent owned by Qatar, and another sovereign wealth fund would hold 5 percent, Spiegel reported.

VW had threatened it could insist on redeeming in September a 700 million euro loan to Porsche, if Porsche rejected the offer, Spiegel online said.

On Friday, Porsche SE said it was close to reaching a deal with Qatar that could help solve its financial problems. [ID:nLQ871926]

"The negotiations have entered the final stretch," a spokesman for Porsche said, adding Qatar had finished examining its books. "The due diligence has reached a positive conclusion." (Reporting by Ludwig Burger, Hendrik Sackmann and Arno Schuetze; editing by Sue Thomas)