BERLIN/FRANKFURT - Porsche denied on Thursday that it had filed an application for aid that a government source had said had been rejected.

The source had said earlier the German government had rejected Porsche's application to dip into the 100 billion euro bailout fund because the filing did not meet the criteria for a decision.

There is no application with the fund. There is only a normal loan application with KfW, a spokesman for Porsche said.

Porsche is struggling with a 9 billion euro ($12.4 billion) net debt load built up in its attempt to seize control of Volkswagen (VOWG.DE).

The luxury carmaker tried in March to drum up 12.5 billion euros in refinancing loans but only managed to get 10 billion.

The Porsche spokesman said the company was in talks with banks including state bank KfW [KFW.UL] about possible loans.

And KfW did not make a decision on the loan application yesterday, the spokesman said. He declined to comment on the size of the loan Porsche was seeking to obtain.

German daily Handelsblatt had reported earlier that a government committee had met on Wednesday to discuss several companies' state aid applications and had decided not to grant aid to Porsche.

Porsche shares were up 1.3 percent at 45.50 euros by 1250 GMT, having eased from an intraday high of 46.30 euros.

Earlier this week, a Porsche source had said the sportscar maker had sounded out KfW on whether it could qualify for 1 billion euros in loans. Porsche has not confirmed that figure.

German newspaper Handelsblatt earlier reported that Porsche had asked for a substantial three-digit million euro sum.

Porsche's home state of Baden-Wuerttemberg earlier this week promised to support Porsche, though it did not confirm a report saying it could provide the carmaker with 2 billion euros in guarantees.

Porsche has also said it was in promising talks with an outside investor, without providing details. The emirate of Qatar has expressed an interest in Porsche in the past. [ID:nLS34014] ($1=.7254 Euro)

(Reporting by Rene Wagner; Additional reporting by Christiaan Hetzner; Writing by Maria Sheahan; editing by Hans Peters)

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