Porsche Sells Bugatti: The Molsheim Brand Passes to American and Gulf Funds

After almost thirty years, the Volkswagen group definitively cuts ties with Bugatti. Porsche AG has announced the sale of its 45% stake in Bugatti Rimac and 20.6% in Rimac Group to a consortium led by HOF Capital, a New York-based investment firm with over $10 billion under management, with BlueFive Capital as the main financier, alongside a group of institutional investors from the United States and Europe. The agreement was signed on April 24, 2026; the completion is expected by the end of the year, subject to regulatory approvals.

The Operation and Post-Closing Structure

The Bugatti Rimac joint venture was established in 2021: Volkswagen sold 100% of the Molsheim house in exchange for a 45% stake in the joint venture, subsequently transferring that stake to its subsidiary Porsche, already holding shares in Rimac Group thanks to a partnership dating back to 2018. As for Volkswagen's entry into Bugatti, it dates back to 1998 when Ferdinand Piëch revived the Molsheim brand.

With this new operation, Porsche completely exits the Rimac perimeter. At closing, Rimac Group will take operational control of Bugatti Rimac and will form a strategic partnership with HOF Capital and BlueFive Capital. HOF Capital will also become the main shareholder of Rimac Group, alongside the founder and CEO Mate Rimac. The financial terms remain confidential, although Bloomberg estimated a valuation exceeding one billion euros at the end of 2025.

BlueFive Capital, based in Abu Dhabi, is led by a former manager of Investcorp; while HOF Capital was co-founded by a member of the Egyptian Sawiris family. The entry of these Middle Eastern and American capital into the Bugatti galaxy marks a significant transition: the Molsheim brand definitively leaves the German orbit that it was brought back to life by Ferdinand Piëch in 1998.

The divestiture is part of a period of strong financial stress for Porsche AG, already under pressure for group-wide cost cuts. Shares of the Zuffenhausen manufacturer fell by 1.6% in early trading after the news. For some time, there had been discussions in the industry about a possible German exit from Bugatti: the crux of the issue was both strategic, given the tension between Rimac's electric DNA and the technical choices of the new Tourbillon, and financial, considering the enormous development costs for each new Bugatti model.

The Tourbillon, the brand's first completely new hypercar after the merger with Rimac, features a V16 8.3-liter engine paired with three electric motors, with a starting price of $4.6 million. It is around its successor that the main question now focuses: who will finance the next generation? With Rimac in operational command and new financial investors behind them, the answer will largely depend on the Croatian group's ability to attract capital. To delve deeper into the evolution of Bugatti Rimac since the origins of the joint venture, it is useful to revisit how the agreement was born in 2021.