Porsche 2012 Annual Report Download - page 119

significant adverse effect on the net assets, financial
position and results of operations of the Porsche SE
group to be low.
Litigation risk
Porsche SE and the entities in which it holds a direct
or indirect investment are involved in legal disputes
and administrative proceedings both nationally and
internationally within the framework of their operat-
ing activities. Where such risks are foreseeable,
adequate provisions are created in order to account
for any ensuing risks. The company does not be-
lieve, therefore, that these risks will have a sustained
effect on the economic position of the group. How-
ever, due to the fact that some risks cannot be esti-
mated, or only to a limited degree, it cannot be ruled
out that very serious losses may eventuate that are
not covered by the provisions already created.
Investigations of the
Stuttgart public prosecutor
To the knowledge of Porsche SE – which is not a
party to the investigations and therefore has only
limited knowledge of the subject matter and status
of investigations – in December 2012, the Stuttgart
public prosecutor filed an action with the Chamber
for Commercial Crimes of the Regional Court of
Stuttgart against former members of the executive
board Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking and Holger P. Härter
in connection with allegations of information-based
manipulation of the market in Volkswagen shares.
According to the press release of the Stuttgart
public prosecutor of 19 December 2012, they are
held responsible for false declarations made in
public statements of the company at their instiga-
tion in 2008 concerning the acquisition of the in-
vestment in Volkswagen AG. In five statements
made in the period from 10 March 2008 to 2 Octo-
ber 2008, Porsche SE is alleged to have denied any
intention to step up its investment to 75 percent
despite already planning to do so at the time. In its
charges, the public prosecutor assumes that, by
February 2008 at the latest, it was already the
intent of the accused former members of the exec-
utive board to increase Porsche SE’s investment in
Volkswagen AG to 75 percent of the voting capital
before the end of the first quarter of 2009 in prepa-
ration for a domination and profit and loss transfer
agreement. The Stuttgart public prosecutor alleges
that in March 2008 the former members of the
executive board had effectively begun to increase
the investment through the acquisition of corre-
sponding price hedging transactions relating to
ordinary and preference shares in VW. Porsche
SE’s denials are alleged to have had an actual
impact on the stock market price of Volkswagen
ordinary shares. This is alleged to have led specific
investors to sell Volkswagen ordinary shares that
they already held and to sell short Volkswagen
ordinary shares.
As the Stuttgart public prosecutor had already
announced in the aforementioned press release of
19 December 2012, the Stuttgart public prosecutor
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