Commerzbank, UniCredit to meet Friday morning, source says
3:31 am Friday, September 27th, 2024
By Tom Sims
FRANKFURT (Reuters) -A meeting between bankers from Germany’s Commerzbank and Italy’s UniCredit on Friday will be held virtually in the morning, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The meeting is a first round of talks between the two as the Italian lender presses for a possible tie-up and Commerzbank hones its defence.
It was not immediately clear which executives from the banks would be present, although insiders have said UniCredit’s chief Andrea Orcel would not be there.
Commerzbank’s designated CEO Bettina Orlopp told a financial conference in London on Thursday that the two banks would meet to “exchange views” now that UniCredit was a shareholder.
Italy’s No. 2 bank earlier this month revealed it had bought a 9% stake in Commerzbank, said it planned to buy more shares and pressed for discussions to explore a tie-up.
Shares of Commerzbank opened 0.4% higher in Frankfurt, coming on top of a nearly 7% gain on Thursday.
The bank’s shares have risen around 30% since UniCredit disclosed its stake.
UniCredit’s swoop is the most ambitious attempt yet at a pan-European bank merger but it faces considerable political hurdles in Germany ahead of national elections.
Commerzbank’s management, employees and the nation’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, have all voiced opposition to a potential takeover, but at least one big investor and some business leaders favour talks.
Orcel this week said that a tie-up would be the best outcome.
Orlopp on Thursday said the bank was open-minded but that the speed of synergies and risks to executing any deal needed evaluation.
“Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it doesn’t make sense, and that is something we need to find out jointly,” Orlopp said.
(Reporting by Tom Sims, writing by Miranda Murray, editing by Thomas Seythal, Elaine Hardcastle)
