Porsche Plunges After VW Merger Fails Over Pending Lawsuits

Porsche SE plunged the most in more than two years after saying efforts to combine with Volkswagen AG by the end of 2011 had failed because of pending lawsuits.

The merger has been held up by lawsuits in the U.S. and an investigation by German prosecutors linked to Porsche’s botched effort to buy VW. The two carmakers agreed to combine in 2009 after Porsche racked up more than 10 billion euros ($13.8 billion) of debt in the attempt to take over VW.