(Bloomberg) — Commerzbank AG stepped up its rhetoric against the approach from UniCredit SpA, further complicating the situation for the Italian lender.
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UniCredit’s strategy of buying and expanding a stake in the lender while considering a takeover bid is “hostile,” a spokeswoman said in an emailed statement Wednesday. It’s the first time Commerzbank has used that term in relation to UniCredit’s approach.
The comments increase tensions which have been simmering since UniCredit first unveiled a stake in September. While Commerzbank’s leadership including Chief Executive Officer Bettina Orlopp have so far signaled skepticism about the benefits of a deal involving UniCredit, they have stopped short from outright opposition.
In the statement Wednesday, Commerzbank said it’s still open “to engage in discussions” with UniCredit once the Italian bank puts forward an offer. “However, we have not received any proposal yet,” it said in the statement.
UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel has successively expanded the lender’s holding in Commerzbank over the past months. He’s largely relied on derivatives to take control of about 28% in the German bank in a move that has angered the German government — and Commerzbank.
Speaking on Bloomberg TV on Tuesday, Orcel said he didn’t anticipate the backlash that his approach on Commerzbank would created. He said there had been various meetings with both the German government and Commerzbank executives previous to buying the stake, in which UniCredit indicated its interest in the German bank.
“I struggle to see” why Berlin and Commerzbank said they were surprised by his move, Orcel said.
“We clearly were invited” by Berlin to participate in the placing of shares by the government in September, he said.
“We agreed on a press release during that process, we interacted again with the leadership of Commerzbank, warning them that we were going to participate,” Orcel said. “Commerzbank was the first call we had in the morning to debrief on where we were.”
Commerzbank said in the statement on Wednesday that “there were no talks between UniCredit and Commerzbank management about a potential combination in the last two years before UniCredit’s investment.”
Orcel said in an interview with the German newspaper FAZ published Wednesday that UniCredit had previously bought a stake in Commerzbank, but sold it again when it didn’t see an option to build it. Asked by the newspaper if that had happened in 2022, Orcel said “perhaps.”
Source: Commerzbank Calls UniCredit Move ‘Hostile’ in Escalation
