By Victoria Waldersee and Emma-Victoria Farr
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Chief Executive Oliver Blume said he felt very positive about Porsche AG’s opening price of around 84 euros ($81.14) on its market debut on Thursday, as the sportscar brand listed in Germany’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) in over 25 years.
Speaking to Reuters in an interview, Blume brushed aside concerns about his dual role as the head of parent company Volkswagen, saying it was not unusual to lead a brand and a company simultaneously.
“We made this decision very consciously – there is no time horizon in which it will be re-evaulated,” he said, speaking next to a Porsche Taycan parked outside the Frankfurt stock exchange.
Porsche AG is now valued nearly as much as its former parent Volkswagen Group, at around 75 billion euros to Volkswagen’s 84 billion.
Though the carmaker is targeting 80% electric vehicle production by 2030, Blume denied that Porsche AG was heading towards being a pure-play electric vehicle carmaker, which traditionally do better on stock market lists.
“We have a very flexible strategy – we offer combustion engine cars, hybrids, and electric cars … this mix is what defines Porsche,” he said.
($1 = 1.0353 euros)
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee and Emma-Victoria Farr; writing by Matthias Williams; editing by Rachel More and Miranda Murray)
