UniCredit buys 4.5% stake in Commerzbank from German government

UNICREDIT has bought the 4.49 per cent stake that the German government has sold in Commerzbank, making the Italian lender a major investor.

UniCredit is paying 13.20 euros per share for the roughly 53.1 million shares, generating proceeds of 702 million euros (S$1 billion) for Germany, the country’s Finance Agency said on Wednesday (Sep 11). The Italian bank’s offer for the stake was a “significant outbid” of everyone else, it said.

The move turns UniCredit into Commerzbank’s third-largest shareholder, with Germany still owning 12 per cent and asset manager BlackRock about 7.2 per cent.

UniCredit had previously considered buying Commerzbank, Bloomberg has reported, though it never made an official move. chief executive officer Andrea Orcel indicated earlier this year that takeovers could become more attractive for the Italian lender if its share price continues to outperform the competition.

The share price of UniCredit has been rising more quickly than Commerzbank’s over the past couple of years. That lifted the Italian bank’s price to tangible book ratio – a valuation metric – to 1.05, roughly double the 0.54 for Commerzbank, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“This first partial sale of the federal government’s stake heralds the completion of the successful stabilisation and thus the exit” from Commerzbank, Finance Agency head Eva Grunwald said. “Commerzbank has shown to be standing firmly on its own feet again.”

Germany now has committed to a 90-day restriction on further sales of Commerzbank shares, though exceptions apply, the agency said. BLOOMBERG