Acting like corporate sell-outs that some thought only happens in America, all the premium European car manufacturers are selling out large chunks of themselves to temperamental-but-rich Arab countries. After the Kuwaitis bought out Aston Martin and Abu Dhabi Emiratis became shareholders in Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari, Porsche is reportedly trying to close a deal that would see the Qatari government become a large shareholder. Porsche has been chasing funds to pull itself out of debt after stupidly trying to take over the much-larger Volkswagen Group.

The once-profitable sports-car manufacturer is in the process of refinancing its debt to the tune of $17.7 billion, but with $15.2 billion already raised, a request pending for another $2.8 billion from the German federal government and an additional $1.4 billion in expected revenues this year, Porsche is still lusting for more capital.

Although previous reports suggested the deal would involve the Qatar state government buying a stake in Porsche, that was before Stuttgart and Wolfsburg began discussions of complicated mergers.

Two options are supposedly now in the works. The first is Qatar could either buy a stake in Porsche Automobil Holding SE, which owns both Porsche’s manufacturing unit and its 51% stake in VW. The second option is to buy up Porsche’s outstanding option on its 24% stake in Volkswagen, making Qatar a partner.

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