Any new company resulting from a merger of Volkswagen and Porsche should be open to outside investors, according to the German state of Lower Saxony, VW's second-biggest shareholder.
"At the end of the day it could look like this: Porsche owns 50 percent, Lower Saxony 20 percent and free float investors 30 percent", a spokesman of the state's prime minister, Christian Wulff, said on Tuesday. "There is room for plenty of investors."
"The role of Lower Saxony will remain unchanged", the spokesman said.
Wulff, who by law has veto power in important decisions at VW, sees ownership at the new company ending up similar to the current VW model. Porsche has 51 percent of VW's voting rights, Lower Saxony 20 percent and investors 29 percent now.
Beset by debt and a collapse in global car markets, Porsche has dropped plans to seize control of Europe's biggest carmaker and instead is seeking a merger, details of which stil need to be worked out. Talks have stalled amid resistance from VW.
At a meeting of his conservative CDU party in Wolfsburg on Monday evening, Wulff said: "Porsche has failed to take sole dominance of VW. It is sad that some people do not have the courage to tell that to all those involved, including employees and the works council".