Reuters reported that Volkswagen has sweetened its bid to purchase almost half of Porsche AG and is prepared to offer considerably more than EUR 4 billion.

Germany's Der Spiegel reported on July 11th 2009 that Mr Wendelin Wiedeking CEO of Porsche SE still considered the amount insufficient in talks over the possible sale of a 49.9 per cent stake in its healthy, wholly owned manufacturer of 911 Carrera coupes.

Mr Wiedeking prefers a rival concept to reduce debt that entails the aid of Mr Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, ruler of Qatar. Der Spiegel wrote that Mr Al Thani has stated his willingness to offer EUR 7 billion for both a stake of just over 25% in the listed holding and Porsche SE’s cash settled options in VW stock that Wiedeking used to hedge the cost of his failed stealth takeover of VW.

(Sourced from www.reuters.com)