VW ex-Chairman Piech in talks to sell Porsche SE stake

BERLIN (Reuters) - Former Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piech is in talks to sell his stake in Porsche SE in a deal that would shake up the ownership structure of the company that controls Volkswagen, the world's largest carmaker.

Porsche SE is the group through which the billionaire Porsche and Piech families control VW, which is still dealing with the effects of its diesel emissions scandal.

The families are in negotiations for a 14.7 percent stake in Porsche SE, worth around 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion), to be transferred from Piech to other members of the family, Porsche SE said in a statement on Friday, confirming a report by weekly magazine Der Spiegel.

"At present, it is still unforeseeable whether the aforesaid changes in the shareholder structure of Porsche Automobil Holding SE will in fact occur," the group said in a statement in English.

The Porsche and Piech families have a right of first refusal on shares held by Piech.

Pressure has been rising on Piech, who resigned from his post at VW in April 2015 after a showdown with former chief executive Martin Winterkorn, since an unsourced media report said last month he had informed top directors about potential cheating of diesel emission tests six months before the scandal became public in September 2015.

VW has strongly denied this and last month signalled it could take legal action against Piech.

VW declined comment on Porsche SE's statement.

Bild am Sonntag separately reported earlier this month that Piech could lose his supervisory board seat at Porsche SE.

($1 = 0.9301 euros)

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Writing by Maria Sheahan.)