Italian bank Unicredit has announced a voluntary takeover offer for Commerzbank worth around 35 billion euros. Commerzbank CEO Bettina Orlopp and the German government firmly reject it, seeing no basis for talks. Unicredit CEO Andrea Orcel aims to force negotiations.
Unicredit from Milan announced a voluntary public takeover offer for Germany's second-largest private bank Commerzbank in Frankfurt on Monday. The offer proposes an exchange ratio of 0.485 Unicredit shares per Commerzbank share, slightly above Friday's closing price, valuing it at around 35 billion euros. Unicredit currently holds nearly 30 percent of Commerzbank shares, having entered with nine percent in September 2024; four percent are financial instruments. The aim is to exceed the 30-percent threshold. Unicredit CEO Andrea Orcel does not expect to gain control but wants to force Commerzbank CEO Bettina Orlopp to the negotiating table. „Our message to Commerzbank today is: It is time to talk“, Orcel said. Commerzbank rejects it: Unicredit's communication contains „no further information regarding the key pillars of a value-creating transaction“. „That would be the necessary basis for any talks“, the statement said. The German government, with around twelve percent the second-largest shareholder after Unicredit, supports this stance and strictly rejects a sale. A Handelsblatt commentary calls for ending the stalemate after one and a half years by having Unicredit present a detailed plan and the government drop its resistance.
