| The European Union's highest court on Tuesday struck down a German law that shielded Volkswagen from takeover, paving the way for Porsche to take majority control of Europe's biggest carmaker. The ruling is a major boost for the European Commission in its crackdown on so-called golden shares, or strategic stakes that give governments special influence over listed companies. "Today's ruling of the European Court of Justice is good news for the internal market and the free movement of capital," Commission spokesman Oliver Drewes told a briefing in Brussels. The law's demise could also end decades of cosy ties between management and labor at VW in a system called co-determination that gives workers a major say in how the company is run. The court ruled as expected that the Volkswagen Law broke EU rules because it capped voting rights at 20 percent and let VW's home state of Lower Saxony veto strategic decisions with just 20 percent of the votes. Porsche welcomed the ruling that lets the maker of 911 sports cars exercise all of its VW voting rights via its nearly 31 percent stake in Volkswagen ordinary shares. Porsche has said it has secured enough options to let it "significantly" raise its holding in VW but has declined to say whether this meant it could already gain majority control. |
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