Porsche

-Porsche's strategic shift anticipates paying back debt

-Porsche to adjust corporate statutes to keep its options open

-Sale of remaining stake in sportscar unit worth roughly EUR4 billion

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FRANKFURT -(MarketWatch)- Porsche Automobil Holding SE wants to plow the proceeds from the planned sale of its sports-car division to Volkswagen AG into investment in other automotive assets after it has paid back its remaining bank debt.

"The proceeds should mainly be used for further investments focusing on the automotive value chain," Porsche said Thursday in the agenda for its shareholder meeting published on the corporate website.

Porsche said it will adjust its corporate statutes to reflect a broader investment brief at the meeting scheduled for June 25.

A spokesman for Porsche said this was a precautionary move to keep all strategic options open for the time after the integration of Porsche's sports-car operation into Volkswagen has been completed. There are no concrete plans for outright acquisitions, he said.

Porsche sold a 49.9% stake in its sports-car unit to Volkswagen in 2009 as part of a complex deal to forge a combined company after its attempt to take over its much larger rival backfired amid ballooning debt in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

At the time, Porsche and Volkswagen mutually granted each other options to transfer the remaining 50.1% stake to Volkswagen if the initial plan for a merger including Porsche's holding firm doesn't work out. This initial plan was abandoned last year due to legal obstacles.

The sale of the remaining 50.1% stake in Porsche's sportscar unit is expected to be worth roughly EUR4 billion, substantially more than Porsche Holding's financial liabilities of EUR1.5 billion at the end of the first quarter.

Paying back the remaining debt would mark a turning point for Porsche's holding firm after it almost collapsed in 2009 under more than EUR10...