Porsche seals investment in Varta subsidiary V4Drive

As planned, sports car manufacturer Porsche has acquired a majority stake in the Varta subsidiary V4Drive Battery. The latter bundles Varta's business for large-format lithium-ion round cells, which are used by Porsche.

The troubled battery manufacturer Varta has taken another step forward in its reorganisation. Only yesterday, the company announced that it had received a bridge loan and agreed on a reorganisation concept with loan lenders and promissory note lenders, as well as with the major Austrian shareholder Michael Tojner and the sports car manufacturer Porsche. As part of this concept, Porsche and Tojner each invest 30 million euros in the main company. The reorganisation concept will secure the financing of Varta AG until the end of 2027.

Porsche is investing in Varta and its subsidiary V4Drive Battery primarily to secure its own supply chain. V4Drive Battery supplies the battery cells used in the performance hybrid drive of the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS. The construction of a further production plant for booster cells in Nördlingen, which was decided in spring 2024 and initiated by Porsche, will continue according to plan.

According to the press release, “Varta intends to gain a strong long-term partner for the further development and marketing of these cells through Porsche’s participation in this business unit.”

When presenting the carmaker’s plans in August, Lutz Meschke, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board and Member of the Executive Board for Finance and IT at Porsche AG said: “Varta and Porsche are already working closely together on the topic of high-performance battery cells. With the planned majority takeover of V4Drive, we aim to drive the company forward and would make an important contribution to keeping key technologies in Germany.”

varta-ag.com (PDF)