Lower Saxony will hold a stake of up to 22 percent in a combined Volkswagen-Porsche group , giving it a blocking minority stake in Europe's largest auto maker, state premier Christian Wulff said on Friday. Lower Saxony, where Volkswagen is headquartered, currently holds a stake of just over 20 percent in Volkswagen's voting shares ahead of a multi-stage merger between the two auto makers. Wulff said the Porsche's current owners, the Piech and Porsche families, are set to hold just over 30 percent in the combined group. The families currently control 100 percent of Porsche SE's voting shares. Porsche SE in turn holds a stake of just over 50 percent in Volkswagen. Wulff also said that Qatar will hold a stake of 20 percent or less in the combined group. The Gulf state owns a 7 percent stake in Volkswagen as well as an option to increase its stake to 17 percent. Qatar, the Porsche and Piech families and Lower Saxony will control a stake of about 75 percent in the combined group, Wulff said. Volkswagen is poised to take a 49.9 percent stake in Porsche's profitable sports car business Porsche AG next week as part of the integration of the two auto makers. As part of the deal, which is set to be completed in 2011, VW plans to buy Porsche AG and car dealer group Porsche Holding GmBH for 16 billion euros ($24.12 billion) in equity and debt.
