Germany, a 12% shareholder in Commerzbank, has rejected the hostile public exchange offer (OPS) launched by UniCredit, opting to preserve the German bank's independence and denouncing what it deems an "aggressive" approach by the Italian group.
The decision was announced in a statement by the German Finance Agency (Finanzagentur), which manages the state's stake in Commerzbank. Accepting the offer was already described as "economically out of the question", the note said, since the bid does not include an adequate premium over Commerzbank's current share price.
The deal is politically sensitive in Germany, where the federal government remains the second-largest shareholder in the Frankfurt-based bank, a stake inherited from the 2008 financial crisis. Beyond financial considerations, Berlin is emphasising the operation's strategic implications.
Commerzbank "plays a key role in financing the German economy and the Mittelstand, the backbone of small and medium-sized exporting companies**,** and is a major employer and a crucial pillar of the Frankfurt financial centre", which the government intends to preserve, the statement reads.
The German business daily Handelsblatt has reported that as recently as Monday UniCredit is said to have threatened, if it secured sufficient support at the shareholders' meeting, to move to replace Commerzbank's supervisory board and management board.
