The Italian bank UniCredit has increased its stake in Commerzbank to 44.37 percent in the takeover battle. After the offer expired last Friday, the Milan-based bank now controls 47.59 percent of the shares in total.
As part of the takeover offer that ran from early May until July 3, shareholders tendered 17.60 percent of Commerzbank shares to UniCredit. Combined with the previous stake of 26.77 percent and financial instruments of 3.22 percent, the new total stake results.
UniCredit can now acquire further shares on the stock exchange but remains under the supervision of financial regulators. If Commerzbank cancels its own shares, the stake could rise to 49.65 percent.
“UniCredit now has the match point,” said Filippo Alloatti of Federated Hermes. The attacker is clearly on the offensive, yet real negotiations between the two institutions are still pending.
