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Porsche and Volkswagen have broadly agreed a deal to combine their businesses in a move which could see the return of the Auto Union name, according to two supervisory board members.

The new group will be led by Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn and he has given assurances that Porsche will remain an independent brand.

One board member told Reuters that “questions over valuation have been resolved” and added that a deal would be completed shortly. The group could eventually adopt the Auto Union name, according to the board member.

The merger is expected to be confirmed at a VW supervisory board meeting today, when VW’s purchase of a 49 per cent stake in Porsche will be ratified.

The amount VW pays for Porsche will be decided after detailed due diligence, according to another board member. A banker close to the deal said the deal “was almost home and dry”.

Porsche was originally manoeuvring to take over VW, but the attempt failed when it ran into financial trouble after amassing more than 10 billion euros (£8.6bn) of debt. Its CEO, Wendelin Wiedeking, left his post last month.

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