FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) – The struggle over the future of Commerzbank is coming to a head: While the Italian UniCredit wants to get the approval of its shareholders for an official takeover offer at an extraordinary general meeting and has announced an official takeover offer for May 5th, Commerzbank is countering the latest advances from Milan.
“What Unicredit has now put on the table after 18 months and numerous meetings is a plan that dismantles the bank as it functions today for its customers and does not pay our shareholders any premium for it,” said Commerzbank’s deputy CEO, Michael Kotzbauer, to the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.”
“Don’t refuse discussions with Unicredit”
Kotzbauer emphasized that Commerzbank “does not reject any discussions with Unicredit.” There have been many meetings in the past few months. “In none of these meetings was Unicredit ever interested in talking about our business model or their plans at Commerzbank.” Unicredit only did this after it announced an uncoordinated offer for Commerzbank shareholders on March 16th. Unicredit boss Andrea Orcel wants to specify this this Tuesday.
“Oversized” international network?
Unicredit, which joined Commerzbank in September 2024, is now by far the largest shareholder in Commerzbank, ahead of the German state. Unicredit boss Orcel recently presented a restructuring plan in the event of a takeover. Among other things, he criticized Commerzbank’s foreign network as being “oversized” and “inefficient”.
Commerzbank manager Kotzbauer, who is responsible for corporate banking, describes the presentation as a “hostile approach with misleading representations.” With locations in more than 40 countries, Commerzbank operates “a global and efficient network of branches and representative offices,” says Kotzbauer. “Around 58 percent of the income from our corporate customers has a clear connection to our international network. Without this foreign bridge function, Commerzbank would no longer be Commerzbank. We were founded as a foreign trade bank in 1870 for precisely this reason.”/ben/DP/stw
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