HispanicBusiness

German prosecutors said on Tuesday they had extended an investigation into market manipulation surrounding Porsche SE's battle to take over Volkswagen to include all members of the iconic sports carmaker's supervisory board.

The extended probe, which is focused on events surrounding Porsche's attempt to take over the much larger VW about five years ago, includes VW's chairman, Ferdinand Piech, along with those on the board at the time of power struggle.

The investigation centres on allegations that Porsche might have misled investors when it said it had no plans to takeover VW. Porsche has denied the claims.

Since then, however, VW successfully launched a takeover of Porsche resulting in the luxury sports car group becoming part of the VW empire.

Investigators have already launched probes into former Porsche chief executive Wendelin Wiedeking and the group's ex-finance chief Holger Haerter.