Unicredit enters Commerzbank and accelerates the European banking game. The bank led by Andrea Orcel expands in Germany, acquiring 9% of Commerzbank, a direct competitor of the Italian institute in the German market, for an investment of approximately 1.5 billion euros. The announcement was made this morning, before the opening of the stock exchanges.
The acquisition took place in two phases. About 4.49% of Commerzbank’s share capital was purchased through an accelerated book building offer, carried out on behalf of the German government, which decided to reduce its stake from 16.5 to 12%. The transaction involved an investment of 702 million euros, with a price of 13.2 euros per share, 2.5% higher than the closing price of 12.88 euros the previous day. The remaining shares were purchased by Unicredit directly on the financial market.
The bank led by Andrea Orcel said that the operation is not the end, but the beginning: “Unicredit will submit to the competent authorities, if and when necessary, the authorization requests to potentially exceed the 9.9% participation threshold in Commerzbank”. With today’s acquisition, the German government remains the main shareholder of Commerzbank. Eva Grunwald, a member of the board of the German Financial Agency, said that “Commerzbank has shown that it is once again firmly on its feet”, highlighting how the sale marks an important step towards the state’s exit from ownership of the bank.
The operation is part of the European banking risk, which sees the main institutions trying to strengthen their position on the market through strategic acquisitions and mergers. Unicredit, already present in Germany with HypoVereinsbank, thus further consolidates its presence in one of the main European banking markets. The acquisition has an impact on the bank’s CET1 ratio of about 15 basis points, but Unicredit has specified that it will not affect the dividend distribution policy.
How did the markets react to the move in Piazza Gae Aulenti? Unicredit shares rose 2% to 36.8 euros, while Commerzbank shares in Frankfurt rose 15.71% to 14.58 euros.
Strategic acquisitions continue. At the end of July, on the day of the publication of the results (fourteenth record quarter with a net profit of 2.7 billion euros, up 4.7% compared to the previous quarter and 15.9% on an annual basis) there was the announcement of the purchase of two banks, Vodeno and Aion Bank, for 370 million euros.
