Dusseldorf At the age of 80, most people are actually thinking about retirement. But not Hans Michel Piëch and Wolfgang Porsche. In mid-May, the annual general meeting of the family holding company Porsche SE must decide on the composition of the supervisory board.
Despite their age, they both want to do it again: Hans Michel Piëch, who turned 80 in January, and Wolfgang Porsche – he will be 79 at the beginning of May – will be back at the Annual General Meeting.
This emerges from the invitation to the shareholders’ meeting, which was published a few days ago. Porsche and Piëch “are to be re-appointed as members of the Supervisory Board by the 2022 Annual General Meeting,” says the letter to the shareholders. “You’re competing again, that’s true,” said a spokesman for Porsche SE. Both have decided to stand for re-election.
While there is an age limit in many other companies and the next generation has long since been at the helm, the two family spokespersons Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piëch do not want to give up any of their power and influence. They have been on the Porsche Supervisory Board for decades. Wolfgang Porsche since 1978, Hans Michel Piëch since 1989.
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The Stuttgart holding company Porsche SE is the most important and influential company in the family. This pools the shares of the Porsches and the Piëchs in Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg. The family holds 53 percent of the VW ordinary shares via Porsche SE in Europe’s largest car manufacturer, which makes them the most important shareholder.
The Stuttgart sports car manufacturer Porsche is to be separated from the VW group and partially floated on the stock exchange.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
A second important investment for Porsche SE is to be added before the turn of the year. The Volkswagen Group currently still holds all 100 percent of the Stuttgart sports car manufacturer Porsche AG. This second Porsche company is to be separated from the VW group and partially floated on the stock exchange. 12.5 percent of the Porsche AG shares are to go to the family, which would be booked as another large investment at Porsche SE.
Planned IPO
The planned IPO of Porsche AG is a major reason why Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piëch are being re-elected to the supervisory board. They want to be at the forefront when this important billion-dollar transaction takes place.
With the partial IPO and the takeover of a significant block of shares, the sports car manufacturer is coming back to the family. After Volkswagen’s failed takeover attempt ten years ago, the Porsche Piëch family had to cede their silverware – Porsche AG – to the VW group.
However, there is a second reason why the tried and tested family spokespersons Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piëch do not yet want to make room for the youngsters from their own ranks. The Volkswagen Group is currently going through the most comprehensive transformation in its history. Through electrification and digitization, the Wolfsburg car manufacturer is becoming a completely different company.
“In this important transformation phase, you stay on board,” a family spokesman justified the decision to re-elect. Both Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piëch still felt close ties to the Volkswagen Group and wanted to support the company during this important process of change.
Despite his age, Wolfgang Porsche will also keep the most important position on the supervisory board of Porsche SE. “Wolfgang Porsche is to be nominated again for the chairmanship of the Supervisory Board,” says the invitation to the Annual General Meeting. He has been at the head of the top Porsche supervisory body since 2007.
There is no doubt that he will be re-elected to the supervisory board of Porsche SE together with his cousin Hans Michel Piëch at the shareholders’ meeting in May. Only the family holds the voting common shares of the holding company. There are still preferred shareholders at Porsche SE; these shareholders have the right to speak at the Annual General Meeting, but not the right to vote.
Re-election secured for the next five years
The re-election of Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piëch at the shareholders’ meeting is therefore secured, also for the usual five-year term of office. But nobody can say with certainty today whether they will perhaps give up their positions on the supervisory board of Porsche SE sooner. Potential successors from the next generation of the family are definitely ready.
>>> Read here: How the Sports car manufacturer Porsche prepared for its IPO
The fine balance of power between the two families would have to be preserved even without Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piëch. It is therefore very certain that there will always be a family spokesman for the Porsche and Piëch sides in the future.
“Everything goes towards Oliver Porsche,” says a family insider. The 61-year-old is a nephew of Wolfgang Porsche and is a member of both the supervisory board of Porsche SE and the highest supervisory body of Volkswagen AG. On the Piëch side, Stefan Piëch is considered a possible candidate; the 51-year-old entrepreneur is a son of Hans Michel Piëch and represents the family on the supervisory board of Porsche SE.
There is no age limit for members of the supervisory board at Porsche SE. In theory, Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piëch could be re-elected in five years. In the Volkswagen Group, on the other hand, there is an age rule for the members of the supervisory body – the age in Wolfsburg should normally be 75 years.
Future supervisory board elections at Volkswagen could be an indicator of how long Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michel Piëch want to continue to represent the family interests in the most important supervisory bodies. In the case of Wolfgang Porsche, a decision will be made next year as to whether he will be re-elected to the Volkswagen Supervisory Board. Hans Michel Piëch has to make a decision a year later, in spring 2024.
The age limit of 75 for members of the Volkswagen Supervisory Board is not mandatory. The company can also make exceptions to this – actually binding – rule. That’s exactly what happened to Hans Michel Piëch before. Namely when he was re-elected to the VW Supervisory Board in spring 2019, when he was already 77 years old.
Hans Michel Piëch has “particular experience and knowledge in the company’s business areas, which the Supervisory Board is convinced he will continue to contribute in the future in the interests and for the benefit of the company”, was the reason given at the time for the abolition of the age limit for the family representative. Rules don’t have to apply forever in Wolfsburg.
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