Porsche Automobil Holding SE might enter a deal under which it would sell the majority of its options on Volkswagen AG shares to Qatar and divest a smaller stake in itself, as initially planned, to the Arab emirate, a person familiar with the matter told the Dow Jones Newswires on Wednesday.
If successful, the crucial deal to shore up Porsche's balance sheet could include a capital increase of around 5 billion euros and additional financial support from Qatar through a credit or guarantees, the person said.
On Monday, Porsche confirmed it received an offer from state-owned Qatar Investment Authority over a capital injection, just hours after it rebuffed an offer from Volkswagen.
Porsche said it wouldn't consider the sale of a 49.9 percent stake to Volkswagen because it would then have to re-negotiate its 10.75 billion euros credit facility. Porsche's application for 1.75 billion euros loan from German state-controled KfW Bank was rejected earlier this week.
Porsche holds a stake of almost 51 percent in Volkswagen, plus a complex set of options to lift its stake by around 20 percent.
But Porsche's net debt tripled to 9 billion euros when it built its holding and talks with banks over future financing proved to be an uphill battle as credit markets dried up.
Recent media reports said Qatar is set to take a stake of 25 percent in the Stuttgart-based automaker, where the Porsche and Piech families control 100 percent of the voting stock.
However, the person said that Qatar's interest has shifted more towards Porsche's options on VW stock and that it might take a smaller direct stake in Porsche if the deal goes through as planned.
A spokesman for Qatar wasn't immediatly available for comment.
Porsche spokesman Albrecht Bamler said the company doesn't comment on the negotiations with Qatar as talks are still ongoing.