Arabian Business reported that Gulf state of Qatar has taken a 6.78% stake in Europe's biggest carmaker Volkswagen as part of a plan to take over around 17% of the company.

Qatar's investment will total some EUR 7 billion and the country will become the third biggest shareholder in Volkswagen behind the Porsche and Piech families and the German state of Lower Saxony.

The agreement is part of a broader deal hammered out this month to merge Volkswagen with luxury sports car maker Porsche which incurred heavy debts in a recent failed bid to take over its far bigger rival Volkswagen.

(Sourced from Arabianbusiness.com)