In a surprising development, the Italian UniCredit acquires an additional stake in Commerzbank, without consultation with Berlin. Intervention by Soltz from New York.

Not only does it continue, but the poker gets fatter for the Italian bank UniCredit, which appears to be attempting to acquire the German bank Commerzbank with unusually aggressive moves. Just a few days ago the Italians announced the purchase of a 9% stake in the German credit institution. On Friday they said they were in no rush for a takeover move, but on Monday they suddenly announced that they had acquired an additional stake, so they now own 21% of Commerzbank’s shares. According to UniCredit management in Milan, the extra stake was bought through “financial instruments”, which were not named. The newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) speaks of an “insult to the German government”.

With this move, the Italians become the largest shareholder. The German state owns a 12% stake and has made it clear that it is not willing to sell any more shares. But UniCredit has already asked the European Banking Authority for its approval in order to increase participation in Commerzbank at 29.9%. Analysts estimate, however, that the next move of the Italians would be to secure a total share of 25%, in order to obtain a blocking minority.

“Aggressive” and “unfriendly act”

From distant New York, where he is participating in the work of the UN General Assembly, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz intervened in the case, pointing out that UniCredit’s aggressive tactics “without any cooperation, without any consultation” is an “unfriendly act” and certainly ” it is not the appropriate behavior in Europe”.

Earlier, sources in the chancellery had told the German News Agency (dpa) that Berlin “favors a strategy that ensures the independence of Commerzbank” and therefore “does not support” the takeover. They even noted that this position “has been communicated to UniCredit”.

“This is clearly a hostile takeover,” Thomas Hartmann Wedels, professor of Banking Administration at the University of Cologne, said on German television (ARD), pointing out that neither Berlin nor the current management of Commerzbank had been informed of UniCredit’s moves. However, he believes that “the takeover attempt will fail, because it cannot be implemented against the will of the German government”.

Risk of mass layoffs?

The unions have also expressed their opposition to a possible takeover, for two reasons: First, why Commerzbank plays a key role in the financing of small and medium-sized enterpriseswhich form the “backbone” of the German economy. Second, because there are fears of mass redundancies. “If the deal goes through, there is a risk that two-thirds of the jobs will be eliminated,” warns the head of the Commerzbank workers’ union, Uwe Chege. Today the bank employs 38,700 people worldwideof which 25,000 in Germany.

As a “negative precedent” the unions cite the acquisition of the also German HypoVereinsbank (HBV) by UniCredit in 2005. At that time HBV employed 26,000 workers in Germany. Today it has no more than 9,500, while last February the financial magazine Manager Magazin spoke of an imminent wave of 700-800 new layoffs.

dpa, APTN, Handelsblatt, FAZ