Porsche rejects Volkswagen offer

STUTTGART, Germany -- Porsche has rejected Volkswagen AG's bid to take a 49% stake in the sports carmaker, a company spokesman said Monday.

Porsche Automobile Holding SE spokesman Albrecht Bamler said the offer by VW "is not a viable option."

According to Bamler, Porsche board chairman Wolfgang Porsche received the offer in a letter by courier last week. But the company's CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and management board were not informed.

"Without the management board, nothing goes here," Bamler said.

Porsche holds a roughly 51% stake in Volkswagen, but ran up hefty debts in accumulating that holding and is now seeking a merger with the larger company. Exactly how that is to happen remains unclear.

German weekly Der Spiegel reported the VW offer was worth 3 to 4 billion euros,, which would have helped Porsche pay off debts racked up in an attempt to take over VW.

Bamler said, however, that for VW to take a stake in Porsche, the Wolfsburg-based automaker would have to take out credit worth 10.75 billion euros ($15.15 billion).

Porsche, based in Stuttgart, confirmed earlier this month it has been holding talks with a Qatar state investment fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, on a possible investment.

Volkswagen shares dropped 10.6% on the news to 237.91 euros in afternoon trading in Frankfurt.

Porsche shares nudged up nearly half a percent to 45.92 euros in Frankfurt.