Volkswagen Shares Gain as Short-Sellers Forced to Buy
June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Volkswagen AG rose the most in more than two months in Frankfurt trading as a potential agreement by Europe’s largest carmaker to combine with Porsche SE prompted short-sellers to buy stock to cover bets the price would drop.
Volkswagen gained 23.51 euros, or 10 percent, to 253.20 euros, its biggest intraday jump since March 25. The stock has risen 14 percent in the past week, leading to a 1.3 percent increase this year, to value the company at 79.8 billion euros ($114 billion).
The number of Volkswagen common shares available to borrow has fallen 25 percent since May 6, when majority shareholder Porsche said it was seeking a negotiated merger, according to Data Explorers research firm. About 2.99 percent of Volkswagen’s market capitalization is on loan, an indication of transactions by short-sellers, who borrow stock on expectations the price will fall. Reversing those bets would take 21 days of buying, data from London- and New York-based Data Explorers show.
“The lendable assets have fallen over the past week, which might suggest a squeeze as the borrow tightens,” said Mike Tyndall, an automotive specialist with Nomura Securities in London.
Volkswagen has been caught in a so-called short squeeze before. The maker of the Golf compact car briefly overtook Exxon Mobil Corp. as the world’s most valuable company on Oct. 28, with the shares jumping fivefold over two days, after Porsche announced it held stock and options for 74 percent of Volkswagen and was targeting a 75 percent stake.
Porsche ‘Not Active’
Porsche, which currently owns 51 percent of Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen, said it isn’t responsible for the carmaker’s latest stock surge.
“We are not active in the market,” Frank Gaube, a spokesman for the Stuttgart, Germany-based sports-car maker, said today by phone.
Integration would be “the best industrial solution for all sides,” Porsche said in a statement yesterday. The maker of the 911 sports car said its condition is “healthy,” with an equity ratio of 45 percent and a “double-digit” profit margin.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Reiter in Berlin at creiter2@bloomberg.net; Alexis Xydias in London at axydias@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: June 2, 2009 12:11 EDT
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