Volkswagen announced on Dec. 7 that it had acquired a 49.9% stake in luxury sports car-maker Porsche for 3.9 billion euros (US$5.8 billion.)
Europe's biggest auto maker plans to complete the takeover of Porsche by 2011 and wants to eclipse Toyota, the world auto leader, by 2018.
Volkswagen predicted that the acquisition of Porsche would mean an annual increase in operating earnings of around 700 million euros.
The acquisition, which caps months of tension between the two groups, is for both of them a return to their roots, as Porsche and VW were part of a vast automobile enterprise launched by Ferdinand Porsche in the first half of the last century.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009
