High officials of the German Government are considering selling the 12.7% State stake in the Commerzbank to the Italian bank UniCredit if the two institutions reach a strategic agreement, according to sources close to the case cited by Bloomberg.
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17/08/2026
by
Lusa
ANDalthough this is not an official position of Berlin, members of the government will be available to open negotiations on the transaction, given the possibility of UniCredit taking control of the second largest German commercial bank.
According to Bloomberg, the German Government seeks to facilitate an understanding between the two entities that is economically and strategically favourable, allowing Commerzbank to continue to play an important role in the banking system of the country.
The Berlin position represents a change from the firm opposition expressed in recent months to the UniCredit operation, after the Italian bank significantly increased participation in the Commerzbank and could take control of the German institution.
UniCredit closed the period of acceptance of the voluntary takeover offer of Commerzbank with the accession of representative shares of 17.60% of the capital of the German bank, bringing the participation to 47.59%.
However, the Italian bank explained that this participation corresponds to 49.65% of the voting rights of Commerzbank, since the own shares held by the German bank do not confer voting rights.
On May 5, UniCredit started the period of membership of the Procurement Public Offer (OPA) on the Commerzbank, through which it intended to exceed the 30% threshold and which provided for the exchange of 0.485 shares of the Italian bank for each share of the German bank.
The executive president of UniCredit, Andrea Orcel, recently expressed confidence in the possibility for the Italian bank to take control of Commerzbank from the fourth quarter onwards, and also admitted the possibility of making concessions in the forthcoming negotiations with the German Government.