UniCredit Andrea Orcel said Wednesday that Italy's second-biggest bank expects to get "a probable all-clear to go up to 30% of Commerzbank by the end of the month".
UniCredit said last year that it had built a stake of around 28% in Commerzbank and this year it got the green light from the European Central Bank take this up to 29.9%, just under the 30% threshold that would require a formal takeover offer under German law.
"In the summer we will make a decision on whether to reach 30% or not," Orcel told the Goldman Sachs European Financial Conference 2025 in Berlin.
The German government is opposed to UniCredit taking over Commerzbank.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said his government was committed to a "strong and independent Commerzbank" in a letter to workers published on Tuesday on LinkedIn by the chairman of the Commerzbank works council, Sascha Uebel.
