VW denies having issued ultimatum to Porsche

FRANKFURT, June 28 (Reuters) - Volkswagen (VOWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) said it had not presented Porsche (PSHG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) with an ultimatum to accept its layout for a merger of the two carmakers, denying a media report and accusations from Porsche.

"There is no ultimatum," a VW spokesman told Reuters on Sunday. He would not comment further.

Porsche on Saturday accused VW and its key shareholder Lower Saxony of extortion following a magazine report that VW and the regional state had demanded Porsche accept a tie-up of the two carmakers with VW in charge. [ID:nLR192616]

Der Spiegel magazine reported in its online edition on Saturday that Porsche had been pressed to agree by the end of June that VW take a 49 percent stake in Porsche's sports car business or else face claims to pay back a 700 million euro ($983.8 million) loan in September.

Porsche Chairman Wolfgang Porsche and his deputy on the supervisory board, Uwe Hueck, said in a statement on Saturday they had been given an ultimatum by VW and Lower Saxony and that they would "not accept extortion". ($1=.7115 Euro) (Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Arno Schuetze; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)