According to media reports, German’s biggest corporate soap opera is coming to an end with bitter tears and sweet revenge all around.

For the past few years Porsche has slowly stalked Volkswagen: or rather one branch of the family that controlled Porsche has attempted to ruin the life of the other branch, which runs Volkswagen.

Porsche tried everything, from savvy financial moves like buying options and shares in secret to big noting itself and financing it all on a corporate bankcard, until the credit crunch and the global recession cut the flow of funds and left Porsche fighting for its life.

Porsche attempted to buy its way free by trying to merge part of itself into VW and by rejecting VW’s offers to buy parts of Porsche. The Government of Lower Saxony backed VW, which helped put Porsche on the back foot.

For much of the past nine months, Porsche has slowly twisted in the wind, bleeding hundreds of millions of euros in interest, as sales of its sports cars and other vehicles collapsed as its banker and other customers were laid off.

Now Der Spiegel and Reuters have reported that Volkswagen is finally planning to purchase all of Porsche in a series of two transactions. The company is planning the imminent purchase of 50% of Porsche shares and will buy the remaining shares in a second step.

Once completed, Porsche will become the 10th brand in Volkswagen’s stable, the world’s largest carmaker, which will represent an enormous loss of face for Porsche, the family that controls it and its management team, which will be inevitably slashed.

VW’s purchase of 49.9 per cent of Porsche had been reported and VW is now planning a complete acquisition in a second purchase of shares.

“The deal envisions a payout to Porsche Automobil Holding of €8 billion ($US11.3 billion), enabling it to pay off the bulk of its crippling debts. VW is also considering acquiring Porsche’s Salzburg-based network of dealerships from its family owners, a move that could raise an addition €3 billion for Porsche.”

Under the deal, the Porsche and Piëch families, Porsche’s shareholders, would get 50 per cent of shares in the merged entity; the state of Lower Saxony would maintain its 20 per cent holding in the company and the path would be clear for Qatar to buy between 14.9 per cent and 19.9 per cent (as envisaged by Porsche in one of its dream moments) the new company’s shares. That would also inject enough money to pay for much the debt.

German news agency DPA reported on Friday that the Porsche and Piëch families had agreed to accept the Volkswagen deal. Reuters also reported the deal was now backed by Porsche supervisory board chairman Wolfgang Porsche, who had fought to maintain Porsche’s independence from VW.

Spiegel also reported on Friday that Porsche’s current CEO, Wendelin Wiedeking, would leave and that the families had agreed to replace him with Porsche production chief Michael Macht. Wiedeking could get an obscene golden goodbye approaching 100 million euros, or close to $A176 million.