It was a rebuff of the highest order that UniCredit received on Monday, September 23, from Berlin. During a trip to New York, the German Chancellor scathingly condemned the maneuvers carried out by the Italian bank to buy its competitor Commerzbank. “Unfriendly attacks and hostile takeovers are not good for banks”said Olaf Scholz early in the evening.
The German leader was reacting to a new surprise operation orchestrated by the Italian bank a few hours earlier. In a press release, UniCredit announced that it had increased its share price by 11.5% “by financial instruments” its stock of shares in Commerzbank, bringing its stake to 21%, subject to the “necessary approvals” by the European Central Bank (ECB).
The move, which would make UniCredit the largest shareholder in Commerzbank, comes just days after its spectacular entry into the capital of Germany's second-largest bank. On September 11, UniCredit took advantage of a sale by Berlin of a package of its Commerzbank shares (equivalent to 4.5% of the capital) to acquire a total of 9% of the shares, becoming, overnight, the group's second-largest shareholder and taking German politicians by surprise.
Maximum pressure
Olaf Scholz's statement marks a new escalation in the uncompromising face-off that has been going on for the past twelve days between Berlin and the Italian bank. Andrea Orcel, the chairman and CEO of UniCredit, was aware of the lack of German enthusiasm for his merger project with Commerzbank, which he announced several months ago. Last week, he assured the press that he would not pursue the merger without the support of the German government. However, the latter has since sent out numerous disapproving signals. On Friday, Berlin announced that it no longer wanted to put up for sale any new shares in Commerzbank, in which the state still holds 12% of the capital. On Monday, a spokesperson confirmed to the press that he supported the Frankfurt bank's strategy of independence and had informed UniCredit of this.
This was not enough to discourage the formidable Italian boss, who was a long-time expert in mergers and acquisitions at the American bank Merrill Lynch. UniCredit said on Monday that it had filed a request to increase its stake in Commerzbank to 29.9%. Backed by Rome, Andrea Orcel seems to have decided to put maximum pressure on the government of Olaf Scholz, at a time when Brussels is arguing in favour of strengthening European financial markets. “UniCredit shares the conviction that a strong banking union in Europe is a key to the continent's economic success”, The Italian bank was right to point out in its press release, referring to the report on the future of European competitiveness submitted at the beginning of September by Mario Draghi. In it, the former Italian governor of the ECB advocates in particular the acceleration of the union of capital markets, in order to mobilise household savings towards private investments in Europe.
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Source: Lemonde
