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Germany holds off state aid to Porsche

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-22 00:04

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Germany is holding back on state aid to the heavily indebted luxury car maker Porsche as it seeks to recover from costly efforts to acquire its rival Volkswagen, the government said on Thursday.

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"It was too early to decide" whether to bail out the company which had applied for state aid, an economy ministry spokesman said after Porsche's request was examined on Wednesday evening.

German daily Handelsblatt reported on its website that Porsche had requested at least 100 million euros (US$137 million) from a government stimulus fund that provides guarantees or credits to firms struggling in the crisis.

Porsche has debts of nine billion euros after it bought a 51 percent stake in Volkswagen (VW) and is having trouble getting more loans. It was forced to abandon its plan to take over VW and said the two planned to merge instead.