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Italian lender UniCreditThe “very aggressive, very opaque” offer. Commerzbank was criticized by Germany’s Finance Minister, Jörg Kukies, who stressed that hostile takeovers are not working.
“In government, we need to protect the safety and stability of a systemic banking sector,” Kukies told CNBC on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “Hostile takeovers in systemic banks do not tend to be successful.”
UniCredit now has a direct stake of 9.5% and a stake of 18.5% via derivativesin Commerzbank, after building a surprise stake in September and subsequently increasing its position.
Armed with a robust CET1 ratio – a measure of a bank’s strength and resilience – of 16.1% as of the third quarter, the Italian lender is seeking permission from the European Central Bank, which oversees the largest lenders in the euro zone, to increase its stake in Commerzbank to 29.99%.
The sudden and accelerated pace of UniCredit’s search has fueled market speculation that CEO Andrea Orcel – a veteran of Merrill Lynch mergers and acquisitions – is ultimately targeting a cross-border consolidation.
The move by UniCredit, which already has a presence in Germany through its subsidiary HypoVereinsbank, has so far been warmly received by Berlin’s fractured government, with outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz criticizing that “hostile attacks, hostile takeovers do not They’re not a good thing for banks.”
A December schism in domestic politics and upcoming elections could prevent the German administration from closely managing the transaction.
“In this specific case, the behavior of the potential buyer was very aggressive, very opaque, not very transparent,” Kukies told CNBC’s Karen Tso and Steve Sedgwick. “Hostile acquisitions are not a good thing in systemic banks. So it’s all about the specifics of this case, it’s not a general statement that Germany is not open for business for global investors.”
CNBC has contacted UniCredit for comment.
Speaking to CNBC in NovemberA few months after his construction of the surprise participation, Orcel noted: “We can say this: we would not be here if we had not been invited to buy that participation. And it all started in a way that we thought was constructive. “
Questions have been raised about the Italian banking group’s commitment to the deal while simultaneously launching an ambitious formal takeover bid for Italian peer Banco BPM. at the end of November.
For its part, Commerzbank supported its case to be alone, with a board member who warned of significant job losses as a result of the integration, if the two banks combine.
Appetite for cross-border consolidation in Europe has waned somewhat since the 2007 controversy and subsequent break-up of Dutch lender ABN Amro from a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland, which ultimately saw the banks collapse during the financial crisis. UniCredit’s Orcel, then a senior investment banker at Merrily Lynch, advised on the transaction.
However, analysts describe banking consolidation in the region – and particularly in Germany – as “for a long time” Commerzbank was previously targeted for acquisition by the country’s largest lender Deutsche Bank, before the sudden collapse of initial talks in 2019.
“The statement that there is no consolidation and no change in the German banking sector is absolutely wrong,” Kukies said on Thursday.
UniCredit and Commerzbank will release their fourth quarter results on February 11 and February 13 respectively.
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Unicredit’s earnings will be released on February 11.
