Filed, for the moment, the operation in Italy on Banco BPM, Unicredit It would be ready to strengthen its position in Commerzbankeven if the German chancellor Friedrich Merz has actually ordered the CEO Andrea Orcel to get aside.
The novelty
The consultants of the German bank, Goldman Sachs And UBSin fact they would be alerted in view of a possible move by the group led by Andrea Orcel, or the conversion into shares of the last package of derivatives equal to about 8% of the capital, Milan Finanza writes.
With conversion, participation in shares would approach the 30% threshold that triggers the obligation to launch an offer It publishes, even if the intention of the Italian Bank would not be to proceed with an Opa, but to position itself better in view of future negotiations with the leaders of Commerzbank and with the German government.
The latest moves
Unicredit announced last July 8th to have converted to shares about 10% of its synthetic position in Commerzbank, bringing its share in shares and related actual voting rights to about 20%.
In the Conference Call last week on the record results of the second quarter 2025, who arrived in the aftermath of the decision to withdraw the offer on Banco Bpm, Orcel said that Unicredit will convert In shares the remaining fee commerzbank by the end of the year.
The blow and answer
According to Orcel, a combination with the German rival would be
“Good for Germany and Europe, who needs a stronger bank to finance investments and support growth. I think it would be good for the banking union, but this is my opinion and to date we have no dialogue on this topic”.
Orcel stressed that
“The counterparty is not ready to discuss it And therefore we respect the fact of remaining investors “
And it has said
“Very happy to benefit from a return on the investment of 20%”.
Just a few days ago, in the traditional summer press conference, the Chancellor Merz expressed negative judgments on climbing attempt:
“I have two reasons for strong perplexity: first of all, it is clearly ahostile acquisitionrevolt both in Commerz and to the Federal Republic. In addition, the merger would create an institution which, by budget structure, could represent a systemic risk for markets “.
Orcel’s caution
Orcel is however continuing to show caution in his moves and has hinted that every decision will be subject to the orientation of the shareholders.
“It will depend a lot on the position of our shareholders: if they believe that this situation should last in the event that it does not happen anything else by 2027, then we will extend it. If they believe they prefer that we extend the location, then we will do it “
He always said in the call.
Certainly the Unicredit CEO remains sure of the value to be extracted in Germany:
“By consolidating the share of profits we link our destiny to theirs, but we remain patient. However, I remain convinced that uniting our HVB A Commerz can create a lot of value, Much more than with mergers in Italy“.
