Overview
- UniCredit launched a voluntary share-swap offer valuing Commerzbank at about €39 billion with a ratio of 0.485 UniCredit shares per Commerzbank share, and the formal offer period concluded on Tuesday.
- Commerzbank's board and Germany's Financial Market Stabilisation Fund rejected the proposal as an insufficient premium and a threat to a lender seen as vital to mid-sized German firms and Frankfurt jobs.
- UniCredit reported an overall exposure near 41.9 percent including equity and derivatives, while reported tender acceptance stood around 11.9 percent, a gap that has prompted public dispute over who actually sold shares into the offer.
- Commerzbank has asked BaFin to probe UniCredit’s disclosures and the Frankfurt prosecutor opened a preliminary market-manipulation investigation, and any final deal would also need European Central Bank approval.
- If approved, UniCredit says it would seek to merge Commerzbank with its German unit HVB and refocus the bank on Germany, a change that could reshape lending to the Mittelstand and affect jobs as Commerzbank pursues its standalone restructuring; the final take-up will be published on July 8 and ECB sign-off is not expected before the third quarter.