German car maker Porsche today said it is to increase its 31 per cent voting stake in Volkswagen to a majority but does not intend to merge the two carmakers.
At an extraordinary meeting yesterday, Porsche's supervisory body authorised the long-awaited move, which the company said would represent an investment of almost €10 billion ($15.17 billion).
Lifting its stake above 50 per cent would not require Porsche to make a full bid for VW because it made an offer at the legal minimum price last year that few investors took up.
The German state of Lower Saxony, VW's second-biggest shareholder with around 20 per cent of the votes in Europe's biggest automaker, reiterated it would keep its stake and continue to play an active role as Porsche's partner.
Porsche, controlled by the family of VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech, has long been expected to gain majority control of VW after Europe's highest court last year struck down a German law that capped individual shareholders' voting rights in VW.