(Reuters) – The Porsche-Piech family, controlling Volkswagen’s top shareholder, are increasingly concerned by the lack of progress in the German automaker’s restructuring and has been pressing for the closure of several German factories, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
The family, which controls Porsche SE and through it holds 31.9% of Volkswagen, “made clear that it is necessary to rightsize the business in order to achieve long-term competitiveness”, FT said citing a person briefed on the discussions.
Volkswagen’s dividend, one of the most important cash sources for Porsche SE, is set to fall to 6.75 euros from 9 euros last year according to LSEG estimates.
Last week, Porsche SE warned it may write down the value of its stake in Europe’s top carmaker by up to 20 billion euros ($20.99 billion).
Porsche SE didn’t immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
($1 = 0.9527 euros)
(Reporting by Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
