It turns out that investors don’t always hate traditional automakers. From Germany to Detroit, the entire auto industry needs to learn from success of Porsche’s initial public offering.
Shares of the sports car brand rose less than 1% in its first day of trading on Thursday, giving it a market value of about 75 billion euros, or about $73.5 billion. Parent company Volkswagen and its advisers are trying to strike a balance with the IPO price. Set it too high and they risk burning the bridge with investors who might buy into other assets VW is likely to have to offer, such as battery startup PowerCo. Price it too low and they will confirm investors’ worst fears that VW inevitable battle with its controlling shareholderthe Porsche and the investment car of the Piëch family, which owns half of the Porsche shares that VW just sold.
