by John O’Donnell and Tom Sims
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Commerzbank is set to put its chief financial officer Bettina Orlopp in charge of negotiations with UniCredit at the German bank’s supervisory board meeting next week, two sources familiar with the matter said, as the Italian bank considers a takeover.
UniCredit recently acquired a 9% stake in Commerzbank through a German state divestment and expressed interest in a merger. The meeting scheduled for next week would pave the way for exploratory talks between the two banks.
A proposed merger with Unicredit would be one of the most ambitious attempts at a banking merger in Europe. But it is already facing strong political opposition in Germany ahead of national elections, particularly from unions who fear job cuts.
Moreover, while Commerzbank is obliged to its shareholders to participate in discussions with Unicredit, the management of the German bank remains opposed to any takeover by the Italian bank, said one of the sources interviewed.
The decision to hand over the talks to Bettina Orlopp could come as early as Tuesday, when Commerzbank’s supervisory board and management begin two days of meetings near Frankfurt to discuss the group’s strategy and its response to UniCredit, both sources said.
Commerzbank declined to comment.
Unicredit’s interest in Commerbank is not new, but the Italian bank’s recent acquisition of a stake has nevertheless surprised the management of the German group and political leaders alike.
“We were all very surprised by the process,” Bettina Orlopp told reporters in Berlin on Tuesday. “That’s why the most important thing now is just to sort this out calmly, to think about what’s on the table now and how to deal with it.”
According to one of the sources, Commerzbank has already begun to persuade the government not to sell any more of its remaining 12% stake in order to avoid a full takeover by UniCredit.
(Reporting by John O’Donnell and Tom Sims; with contributions by Giuseppe Fonte in Rome and Andreas Rinke Christian Kraemer in Berlin; by Bertrand de Meyer; editing by Blandine Hénault)
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