Volkswagen's plans to sell Traton Group, which contains the Scania and MAN brands, have been revived.
Following a board meeting yesterday (13 May 2019), Volkswagen announced that the IPO will go ahead "before the summer break, depending on further developments on capital markets".
The move comes just days after Traton delivered record financial results for the first quarter of 2019, and two months after the IPO was put on hold due to "tough" market conditions.
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Announcing the decision to restart the IPO yesterday, Volkswagen chief financial officer Frank Witter said: "We have always clearly reiterated our intention to pursue an IPO.
"Current market assessments have encouraged us to take today’s decision.”
Andreas Renschler, Traton chief executive office, added: "Traton and our entire team are very well placed to resume preparations for a swift IPO. Our groundwork has been excellent and we are now fully focused on a potential IPO before the summer break.”
Volkswagen postponed the IPO in March this year, just six months after its launch. At the time Witter cited "tough global market conditions" and added that the company would wait until market conditions improved.
In its first quarter results, published last week, Traton Group revealed that operating profit had risen year-on-year by 21.9% to €470m (£405m). Sales revenue rose year-on-year by 6% to €6.4bn with the group selling 57,160 vehicles globally, up 7.4% on the year before.
