VW sweetens Porsche bid - report

By Christiaan Hetzner

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen (VOWG.DE) has sweetened its bid to purchase almost half of sports car maker Porsche AG and is prepared to offer considerably more than 4 billion euros (3.4 billion pounds), Germany's Der Spiegel reported.

The weekly magazine wrote on Saturday that Wendelin Wiedeking, the chief executive of heavily indebted parent Porsche SE (PSHG_p.DE), still considered the amount insufficient in talks over the possible sale of a 49.9 percent stake in its healthy, wholly-owned manufacturer of 911 Carrera coupes.

Wiedeking prefers a rival concept to reduce debt that entails the aid of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, ruler of the natural gas-rich Gulf state of Qatar.

Der Spiegel wrote the sheikh has stated his willingness, via an investor agreement, to offer 7 billion euros for both a stake of just over 25 percent in the listed holding and Porsche SE's cash-settled options in VW stock that Wiedeking used to hedge the cost of his failed stealth takeover of VW.

An industry source told Reuters on Saturday the 7 billion euros was a realistic amount.

Separately Spiegel's closest rival Focus reported that Volkswagen was working on a legal concept of how to save the Porsche and Piech families that own Porsche SE some 1 billion euros as part of a sale to VW -- money that otherwise would be lost as tax revenue for the finance ministry.

The news emerged as the rival Porsche and Piech clans get set for a supervisory board meeting on July 23 that should decide on the future of the company.

UNANIMITY IN ADVANCE