Qatar thinking of buying stake in Porsche!!

The worst secret in the universe is that there's a lot of money in the Middle East and the Gulf states are looking all over the world for places to put it. Abu Dhabi's Aabar investment spent €1.95 billion on a 9.1% stake in Daimler (around $2.5B USD), and now the state of Qatar is eying what could be a double-digit stake in Porsche. Qatar hasn't floated any potential investment sums, but said one sheikh, "we are looking into this issue."

The deal likely wouldn't be a bad one for Porsche either. The Stuttgart maker has some cash intensive plans on the horizon, including a €3.3 billion credit payment ($4.3B) and upping its stake in VW another 25% to 75%. Porsche refinanced €10 billion ($13.2B) of its debt just last month, and now wants to raise €2.5 billion ($3.3B) to keep things moving. Having gone from a couple of models to five different lines in 28 variations, it is likely that Porsche will be looking for all of the investment monies it can get.

[Source: Auto News, sub req'd]