Porsche wants former Mercedes Tech Chief to lead it through IPO

Today was the official change of guard at VW Group - Olive Blume has taken over from Herbert Diess who was voted out of his seat at the end of July. With all the VW and Porsche executives happy and their house in order, they are on the lookout for new board members.

Porsche is planning to go ahead with its IPO despite the current unpredictable market situation. It is shaping up to be the biggest initial offering Europe has ever seen with estimates as high as $85 billion.

The company wants Sajjad Khan to join its board, most likely in the same position he held at Mercedes-Benz - Chief Technology Officer. Mr Khan left Mercedes a year ago to start his own venture capital fund. The decision of his hiring hasn’t been confirmed yet but according to press reports, his move to Porsche is imminent.

Sajjad Khan has quite a track record, at Mercedes he was responsible for MBUX user interface and is credited with development of the Hyperscreen first introduced in Mercedes EQS. Before Mercedes, Khan worked for BMW where he became a vice president and was responsible for the Connected Drive system.

With so much experience, it is no surprise that Porsche wants him to focus on the Car-IT projects. With the IPO imminent, the company management wants to make sure it has not only a complete team but a team made up of the best people. It is expected the board will announce the IPO shortly and apparently all shares have been already oversubscribed.

The so-called “shadow” order book is apparently filled with biggest names in the investment world. Qatar Investment Authority, T Rowe Price Group, Bernard Arnault - boss of LVHM, founder of Red Bull Dietrich Mateschitz are just few that officially confirmed interest.

Some of the biggest investment funds expressed their concerns about influence on Porsche wielded by VW. Firing of Herbert Diess did not help to put them at ease and there is no secret that VW will be the biggest shareholder. The only relief for investors is the fact that VW shares will not hold any voting rights.

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