Qatar Holding has agreed to sell its stake in luxury automaker Porsche back to the Porsche and Piëch families for an undisclosed sum, the wealth fund has announced.

The move comes four years after Qatar became the Germany-based company’s third-largest shareholder. In August 2009, as the automaker struggled to manage billions of dollars in debt after acquiring Volkswagen, Porsche agreed to sell a stake to an outsider for the first time.

Compromise

Qatar Holding committed some $10 billion to making the merger happen, the New York Times previously reported. Though the deal eventually failed, both Porsche and VW are now part of the Integrated Automotive Group, and Qatar has been credited with helping to make that happen.

The sovereign wealth fund still owns a 17 percent stake in VW, while the Porsche and Piech have a 51 percent stake in the company.

Reuters reports:

“This transaction results as a logical step after the creation of the Integrated Automotive Group between Volkswagen and Porsche AG as finalized in 2012,” Qatar Holding said in the statement…

The Integrated Automotive Group to which the Qatar statement refers is the group of brands which now make up Volkswagen’s global business after it came to terms with Porsche after several years of wrangling.

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo by Javier Estraviz