German luxury sportscar maker Porsche and the German state of Lower Saxony pursued legal skirmishes on Tuesday aimed at wresting control of the biggest European carmaker, Volkswagen.
Porsche said it had filed a court petition to challenge the results of a Volkswagen general assembly that rejected proposed changes to its bylaws.
Porsche proposed at the April 24 meeting to scrap clauses in VW's articles of incorporation in line with a ruling by the European Court of Justice on Germany's so-called VW Law, which limits Porsche's influence in VW.
Porsche currently owns around 31 percent of VW but intends to raise its holding to more than 50 percent at some point.
In October, the European Union (EU) court ruled that provisions of the VW Law were illegal.
A provision which gives Lower Saxony a blocking minority vote owing to its 20-percent stake is included in the auto manufacturer's bylaws, and allowed the state to thwart Porsche's attempt to amend those same laws in April.
Lower Saxony and the German government argue that the European court ruling did not concern the minority blocking level of 20 percent, which Porsche says should come into line with other German companies that put minority blocking stakes at 25 percent.
The current difference allows Lower Saxony to veto strategic VW decisions such as plant relocations or closures, and Porsche wants a German court ruling to make it clear where things stand.
“The action is aimed at clarifying the legal situation,” Porsche said in a statement.
“A partial application (of the European court ruling) … as called for by Lower Saxony during the VW general assembly, does not help clarify matters but increases confusion,” it added.
Meanwhile, Lower Saxony said it had also asked a another German court last week to rule in favour of its position.
In Berlin, the government approved Tuesday a new draft VW law that supports Lower Saxony's right to a minority blocking stake.
“We want to conserve as much as possible the existing Volkswagen law and therefore to remove only the provisions declared contrary to European law,” a statement quoted Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries as saying.
The government, under pressure from Lower Saxony and the IG Metall trade union, is concerned about potential job losses and points to what it considers ambiguous terms in the EU court ruling regarding the minority blocking issue.
But Berlin's decision to propose a new version of the law could raise the wrath of the European Commission, which contests any special rules for VW.
Porsche says meanwhile that maintaining VW's minority blocking level at 20 percent violates European Union laws on free movement of capital.
It successfully challenged another provision that limited shareholders' voting rights to 20 percent regardless of the size of their holdings.
