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“Not coordinated”: Unicredit’s greatest Commerzbank shareholder
The Unicredit increases its direct participation in Commerzbank and overtakes the German state as the greatest shareholder – to the annoyance of Frankfurt. Is there a risk of takeover now?
Surprising turning point in Commerzbank: UniCredit is the largest shareholder of Commerzbank in front of the German state and once again attracts the anger of the second largest German private bank. “This step is again not coordinated with Commerzbank,” said the Frankfurt Institute.
The Unicredit had announced on Tuesday evening that it doubled its direct share participation at Commerzbank and thus its voting rights from just under 10 percent to around 20 percent.
To do this, she converted a good half of the financial instruments she held into stocks and thus overtakes the federal government as the largest Commerzbank shareholder to date. The federal government holds a good 12 percent of the shares in the DAX group.
Unicredit indicates further increase
According to its own statements, the remaining around 9 percent, to which UniCredit has access to financial instruments, also wants to convert in shares “in due course”. Supervisory authorities such as the European Central Bank (ECB) and the German financial supervision Bafin have already approved this step.
If the direct stock participation is renewed, the Unicredit would be close to the threshold of 30 percent, from which it would be legally obliged to submit an official takeover offer to the other Commerzbank shareholders.
The step now comes as a surprise: Unicredit boss Andrea Orcel had recently said that the Unicredit was “far away” from a takeover offer for Commerzbank. The future of the UniCredit is “very rosy” without takeovers. In addition, the Commerzbank share price has risen sharply since the UniCredit started in autumn, which would make a takeover more expensive.
Letters to the federal government
At Commerzbank, the UniCredit has met with violent resistance for months. Both management around CEO Bettina Orlopp and the employee representatives reject a takeover.
Most recently, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) had stood behind the bank in a letter to Commerzbank Councilor Sascha Uebel: The Federal Government rely on a “strong and independent Commerzbank”.
Orcel had recently recently advertised Lars Klingbeil (SPD) in letters to Merz and Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) for the advantages of a merger of Commerzbank and Unicredit, but was blown away.
dpa
Source: Stern
