Porsche's Initial Public Offering (IPO) launched today in Germany, and according to The New York Times, it's off to a good start. The IPO hit the German Stock Exchange and has become one of the biggest IPOs ever for Europe.
At launch, Porsche AG had a valuation of $72 million. Reuters reports the shares climbed through the day, peaking at $84.85 before settling back to $80.74. Four large investors accounted for 40 percent of the offering, with 25 percent going to Porsche and Piech families. There's no mention of how many shares were offered total; we previously reported that 911 million shares could make up the IPO, a nod to Porsche's most famous vehicle, the 911.
Per Reuters, 19.5 billion euros ($19 billion) was raised from the IPO. Just under half of that will go to Porsche's parent company Volkswagen. Funds will help support and advance ongoing electrification efforts at the automaker.
Interestingly, Reuters also mentions that Porsche AG's value is only slightly below that of VW, though in this case, slightly is still a difference of approximately $4.6 billion. Porsche tried to buy Volkswagen back in 2008 but failed, though it ultimately led to a merger of the two brands in 2011.
Porsche joins a growing group of performance brands going public. Ferrari's IPO in 2015 had a rather shaky start, but values ultimately rebounded over 400 percent by the end of 2019. Our colleagues at DuPont Registry did some legwork on supercar demand, revealing that Ferrari and Porsche lead the way by a notable margin over competitors. With both companies public, the potential is certainly there for continued success.
Furthermore, luxury brands in general have weathered the last few years better than mainstream automakers. More investment opportunities should be good news for these brands going forward.
