TIMELINE: Porsche's approach to Volkswagen
(Reuters) - Indebted sports car maker Porsche SE (PSHG_p.DE) played down reports its family owners had agreed the outlines of a merger with Volkswagen (VOWG.DE).
Below is a timeline of Porsche's overtures to VW:
September 25, 2005 - Porsche says it plans to buy a stake of about 20 percent in VW. Three days later it emerges with a 10.3 percent voting stake, subsequently increased via forward-rate agreements.
August 2, 2006 - Porsche Chief Executive Wendelin Wiedeking first advocates the abolition of Germany's "VW Law" that caps voting rights in VW at 20 percent.
November 15 - Porsche's supervisory board authorises management to increase its VW stake to 29.9 percent, triggering speculation it plans to gain majority control.
April 30, 2007 - Porsche submits mandatory takeover offer after crossing 30 percent threshold.
October 23 - European Court of Justice rules against VW Law.
March 3, 2008 - Porsche supervisory board gives go-ahead to raise its VW voting stake to over 50 percent.
October 26 - Porsche says it holds stock and options that give it control of 74 percent of VW's votes and announces plans for a "domination" agreement. A resulting scramble for shares briefly makes VW the world's most valuable company.
January 5, 2009 - Porsche says it has raised its VW voting stake to 50.8 percent and confirms its plan to raise stake to 75 percent this year if conditions allow.
May 6 - Laden with debt as car markets plunge, Porsche drops takeover plan and says it will pursue a merger instead.
May 12 - VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech names an ally, VW Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn, as his candidate to head the merged group. Warns Porsche it must get its 9 billion euro debt under control before any deal can be agreed.
May 17 - VW halts tie-up talks with Porsche, says its smaller peer and shareholder is not ready for a merger. Two days later Porsche and VW agree to work together again.
May 25 - Porsche confirms it received a 700 million euro loan from VW.
June 9 - Porsche starts talks with investment fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) to sell a stake in its automobile holding via a share capital increase or by divesting its options for Volkswagen shares.
June 25 - Germany denies Porsche a state loan.
June 27 - Porsche accuses VW and its key shareholder Lower Saxony of extortion following a media report that VW and the regional state had demanded Porsche accept a tie-up. Volkswagen denies the report the next day.
June 29 - Qatar offers to invest in Porsche.
- Porsche says it will seek alternate ways of refinancing its debt after state bank KfW officially rejected a 1.75 billion euro loan application.
July 10 - Chairman Wolfgang Porsche calls an extraordinary supervisory board meeting for July 23 to discuss a possible sale of a stake in Porsche SE to Qatar worth over 5 billion euros.
July 16 - Plays down reports that its family owners had agreed the outlines of a merger with VW that would hand victory to VW Chairman Piech.
(Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner and Michael Shields; Additional writing by Carl Bagh; Editing by David Cutler and David Cowell)
