UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel on Wednesday told CNBC that the share price of potential takeover target Commerzbank
is currently too prohibitively expensive for a merger deal.
UniCredit has built a surprise stake in Commerzbank of 28% since September through derivatives and has the European Central Bank’s authorization to hold up to 29.9% in the lender.
When asked by CNBC’s Annette Weisbach whether the Italian bank would proceed with an acquisition offer at premium to Commerzbank’s current share value, Orcel said, “At this [share] level, we would not see value for our investors. Actually, we would not, we are very happy for the gain we’ve had on the 30[% stake], but we wouldn’t see value for our investors.”
Shares of the German bank, which has battled the specter of a takeover since September, have surged 76% in the year to date, benefitting from a broader rally of German equities following Berlin’s pivot to relax some fiscal rules and facilitate higher defense spend earlier this year.
