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By Bloomberg

Porsche Automobil Holding SE, the company that owns a majority of Volkswagen AG’s common stock, is searching for new investments, even with no end in sight to its legal battles.

Porsche SE is “working intensively” on adding to its investment portfolio, Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn said in a prepared statement. Meanwhile, a Hanover court decided to hear witnesses in Porsche SE’s long-running fight with investors, the company said today. It declined to comment on the witnesses called by the court.

The search by the Stuttgart, Germany-based company has yielded just one small investment aside from its controlling stake in Volkswagen. Last year, it bought 10 percent of traffic- information provider Inrix Inc. for about $44 million. The transaction was its first investment after the family-owned holding company’s attempt to acquire Europe’s largest automaker backfired.

Porsche SE plans to invest in automotive-related companies with its cash pile, which stood at 2.27 billion euros ($2.41 billion) at the end of December. The company has balked at additional investments because of concerns about valuations.

The holding company -- which is controlled by the descendants of auto pioneer Ferdinand Porsche -- owns 50.7 percent of the common stock in Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen following the 2012 sale of the Porsche AG sports-car operations to VW in the wake of an unsuccessful takeover battle. Plans for a merger of Volkswagen and Porsche were dropped because of legal risks, and cases brought by investors seeking damages are still pending in German courts.

Short Sellers

Porsche SE has faced a series of investigations and lawsuits since it disclosed in October 2008 that it controlled 74.1 percent of VW, partly through options, and was seeking to acquire 75 percent as part of a takeover strategy. The announcement caused VW’s stock to jump as short sellers raced to buy shares to repay stock borrowed in bets that VW would fall. Combined, the claims are seeking about 5 billion euros in damages.

Ex-CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and Holger Haerter, the former chief financial officer, were charged in Stuttgart in 2012 with market manipulation. Both men deny the allegations.