US EditionUniCredit launches low-premium bid for Commerzbank in effort to secure talks
UniCredit offers a €35 billion bid with a 4% premium to raise its stake in Commerzbank above 30%, aiming to prompt merger talks without seeking full control.
- On March 16, UniCredit, Italian bank, launched an unsolicited offer to increase its stake in Commerzbank to more than 30 percent, aiming to prompt merger talks.
- To address that legal hurdle, UniCredit said the offer aims to overcome the 30% cliff-edge in German takeover law and foster engagement in the coming weeks after a Commerzbank buyback forced stake adjustments.
- UniCredit outlined the swap as 0.485 UniCredit shares per Commerzbank share, implying €30.8 per Commerzbank share and a 4% premium as of March 13, with BaFin to set the formal price and a May launch expected; markets reacted with UniCredit down 1.5% and Commerzbank up 4.6%.
- Commerzbank's management argued the bid was uncoordinated and reaffirmed independence, while Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Union Verdi warned the lender could be dismantled, with Christoph Schmitz-Dethlefsen saying, 'An independent Commerzbank is the best guarantee of secure jobs and a solid future for both institutions'.
- The move also positions UniCredit to speed expansion in Poland via mBank and combine Commerzbank with HVB, while the Berlin government stake complicates control and capital impact is negligible.
135 Articles
135 Articles
"The procedure is not coordinated with us" – Commerzbank CEO Orlopp criticizes UniCredit for offering. Verdi warns: 10,000 jobs in danger.
Andrea Orcel announces an offer of exchange on Commerzbank's shares (a 4% prize) to exceed 30% and open a constructive confrontation on Commerzbank. Chancellor Merz: "We want to maintain independence." But Brussels does not see it this way: consolidation is needed. Unicredit resumes the offensive on Commerzbank. Yesterday morning, before the opening of the markets, the managing director Andrea Orcel, announced a voluntary public offer of exchang…
Since the entry of the Italian banking group Unicredit, Berlin has declared it undesirable. There are no arguments for this commitment by the government. It should be neutral.
Launched a 35 billion Offer. The CEO Orcel: "We want to restart the dialogue"
The political opinion of the government is clear: we want to maintain the independence of Commerzbank. But now Commerzbank has to give an answer and everything else will be seen in the coming weeks and months. If not as an opening, which is not there, the comment of the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, to the last move of Unicredit in Frankfurt sounds at least like a "we don't agree," but if they see it.
The Italian bank Unicredit already holds 29.9 percent of Commerzbank and plans to exceed the 30 percent threshold. The takeover offer is considered attractive. "A takeover is very realistic", says XTB market analyst Jens Klatt at Dietmar Deffner.
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