The government “will not sell any additional shares until further notice,” the Federal Finance Agency said, adding that “this also includes sales linked to possible share buybacks by Commerzbank.”
The German government will not put up for sale “until further notice” other parts of the public stake in Commerzbank, saying on Friday that it was determined to support the independence of the second German bank in the face of the appetites of the Italian UniCredit.
“The bank’s strategy is geared towards independence. The federal government will support it until further notice by maintaining its participation,” the Federal Finance Agency (Finanzagentur) said in a statement.
The government “will not sell any additional shares until further notice,” the agency added, specifying that “this also includes sales linked to possible share buybacks by Commerzbank.”
The German state sold 53 million shares of Commerzbank last Tuesday, representing 4.5% of the group’s capital. This was the first step in its withdrawal from the capital of the second German bank, after saving it from bankruptcy in the 2000s by injecting some 18 billion euros.
Public participation thus fell from 16.5% to 12%, with the State remaining the group’s largest shareholder.
UniCredit surprised the markets by announcing the acquisition of 9% of Commerzbank, including the share put up for sale by the German state for 702 million euros.
The remaining stake was purchased on the market, bringing the total value of the deal to around 1.4 billion euros.
The announcement has rekindled speculation about a possible full takeover of Commerzbank by the Italian bank, which already owns German lender HypoVereinsbank.
Mr Orcel had this week praised “the potential” of a possible merger between UniCredit and Commerzbank and the “considerable added value” it could bring to the various parties.
“It has been no secret for many years that we have seen potential in a merger,” he told the financial daily Handelsblatt.
The CEO of the second largest Italian bank has, however, ruled out launching a public takeover bid, which would be “an aggressive act”.
UniCredit’s desire to increase its rival’s capital has set the German political and financial world in turmoil.
The German state would be inspired to “keep” its Commerzbank shares, the important thing being “to think calmly about what is on the table and how to react to it”, Commerzbank’s financial director, Bettina Orlopp, argued in Berlin on Tuesday.
“First of all we need calm, because we were all very surprised,” she added, referring to Unicredit’s unexpected incursion into the group’s capital.
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