Volkswagen brands preparing for listing as training exercise

BERLIN (Reuters) – Volkswagen (ETR:) brands have been instructed to prepare for a stock market listing as a training exercise, chief executive Oliver Blume said to Handelsblatt on Tuesday, without commenting on whether further listings were planned.

With the advice of a banking team, chief executives and financial officers at each brand were working on sharpening their focus with capital markets in mind, Blume said. The results of the exercise would be presented at a capital markets day next year.

“It should be understood like a training session,” Blume said. “Within the Volkswagen Group I sense a clear motivation to give capital markets a higher relevance.”

Volkswagen’s listing of its sportscar brand Porsche last Thursday prompted speculation of further listings as a means of unlocking value in the Volkswagen Group, which executives view as strongly undervalued.

Porsche is already worth almost as much as its former parent, which Blume said to Handelsblatt underlined the potential hidden value in the group.

Volkswagen chief financial officer Arno Antlitz said to Reuters last week the next listing on the cards was of the group’s battery unit PowerCo, declining to specify whether other brands like Audi could also be put on the market.