BERLIN — Every bid submitted for Volkswagen’s engine-manufacturing unit Everllence exceeded €9 billion euros — roughly $10.21 billion — according to a source with direct knowledge of the negotiations who spoke to Reuters on Thursday.
Despite receiving three competitive offers, Volkswagen ultimately chose American private equity firm Bain Capital to purchase a 51% stake in the subsidiary. The transaction is anticipated to be among the largest corporate carve-outs in European industry this year, as Volkswagen works to simplify its business structure during a period of significant cost-cutting.
Notably, Bain’s offer was the lowest of the three bids, according to the source. However, Bain may have offered the strongest risk guarantees tied to an internal review within Everllence called “Balthazar” — an audit of individual business partners.
The internal review was prompted after Japanese authorities launched an investigation in 2024 into engine manufacturers over fuel consumption data. Everllence has stated that it did not produce the engines or perform the tests under scrutiny, and that it is not aware of facing “any claims for damages or regulatory proceedings.” Still, the Balthazar audit was a factor in the sales process, the source said.
A second independent source also confirmed that Bain submitted the lowest bid. Both sources requested anonymity because the details of the offers had not been made public.
The other two competing firms were CVC and EQT, with CVC having submitted the highest bid, according to both sources familiar with the matter.
EQT had put together a consortium that included Porsche SE, Volkswagen’s largest shareholder. That arrangement led Volkswagen’s management to run the bidding through a sealed-envelope process, with many supervisory board members stepping aside to prevent conflicts of interest, according to multiple sources within the company.
A spokesperson for Porsche SE — the investment holding company of Germany’s Porsche-Piech automotive family — described the bidding process as having been handled in a transparent and professional way.
Volkswagen declined to comment on the specific values of the bids. Bain Capital could not be reached for immediate comment, and neither EQT nor CVC responded to requests for comment right away.
Volkswagen’s stock rose by as much as 3% on Thursday, the day after the deal was announced Wednesday evening. The transaction is expected to generate €7.4 billion for the automaker as it continues its restructuring push.
Everllence is a prominent manufacturer of marine engines and has also been positioning itself for growth in the artificial intelligence sector, particularly through demand for generators powering data centers.
“With this envisaged transaction, Volkswagen would significantly strengthen its own financial position as its transformation moves forward,” a JP Morgan analyst noted.
Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume has committed to narrowing the sprawling automaker’s business portfolio to concentrate on its core automotive operations, which have been under pressure from tariffs, competition from Chinese manufacturers, and the expensive transition to electric vehicles.
The company said in a statement that it will determine at a future point how to use the proceeds from the leveraged buyout, which it expects to finalize before the end of the year.
