Porsche, the German maker of luxury sports cars, has launched an official bid to acquire Volkswagen, Europe’s largest car maker. Porsche announced in late March that it would exercise an option to buy an additional 3.6% stake in VW. The additional shares raised Porsche’s interest in VW to 30.9%, effectively obliging it under German law to launch a public takeover for all outstanding VW shares. Under an offer to run until May 29 Porsche said it would propose €100.92 per ordinary share, which is well below VW’s current share price of around €112. Via rte.ie