Porsche Holding SE (‘Porsche’) is a listed company with a majority stake (~52,2%) in Volkswagen AG’s (‘VW’) ordinary shares. As a consequence, Porsche’s listed preferred shares dropped by more than 30% in value when VW admitted it had installed defeat devices, which were designed to cheat emissions tests in certain car models.
At the end of December 2018, a group of investors advised and assisted by Deminor Recovery Services registered their claims against Porsche with the model case proceeding (‘KapMuG’) before the Higher Regional Court of Braunschweig in which VW and Porsche are both model defendants. Deminor advised claimants to register their claims rather than issuing proceedings given that several key procedural and substantial issues remain uncertain.
The registration of claims has had the effect of tolling the statute of limitations. Investors can issue proceedings against Porsche once the uncertainties are resolved.