Behind one of the most spectacular operations that European finance has seen since the 2008 financial crisis is a figure known to be determined and ruthless, a high-flying banker who is considered to be the best deal maker (“negotiator”) from Europe, according to those who have known him or observed him in action. In September, the chairman and CEO of the Italian bank UniCredit, Andrea Orcel, 61, twice created a surprise by taking a stake in the German lender Commerzbank, first to the tune of 9%, then by announcing on Monday September 23, increasing its stake to 21%.
Mr. Orcel's maneuver, described as” hostile “ by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, could lead to a merger and the creation of a European banking giant. It would constitute a major test, at a time when the reports on competitiveness and on the single market submitted to Brussels by the former presidents of the Italian council Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta are relaunching the idea of a necessary consolidation of the sector on a scale of the European Union, in the context of the Banking Union and the Capital Markets Union.
Before he carried it out himself, the hostile acquisitions had served as the subject of a university thesis for the young Andrea Orcel, a graduate in economics from the University of Rome, after having attended the prestigious Lycée Chateaubriand, a French educational establishment popular with the elite of the Italian capital. Following an MBA from the highly rated European Institute of Business Administration in Fontainebleau, and stints at Goldman Sachs and the Boston Consulting Group, Mr. Orcel's career took off at Merrill Lynch, where he joined in 1992. .
Difficult character
With it, investment banking becomes essential in Europe for cross-border banking mergers. He then played an important role in the creation of UniCredit – the bank of which he will take the helm in 2021 –, working on the 21 billion euro merger of Unicredito and Credito Italiano, in 1998. Mr. Orcel then advised the new entity during the acquisition of the Bavarian lender HVB, which offers the Italian group the German anchor which will be useful for its future offensive on Commerzbank.
In twenty years at Merrill Lynch, Andrea Orcel rose through the ranks, gained the trust of the biggest names in European finance and built an image combining a certain virtuosity with a difficult character which earned him the nickname “Cristiano Ronaldo of bankers”. », in reference to the Portuguese star footballer. His long stint in investment banking, however, was not without failures. Thus, in 2007, he advised RBS on the acquisition of ABN Amro, a transaction which proved disastrous.
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Source: Lemonde
