The European Commission has set November 16 as the deadline to pronounce itself on the public takeover bid (OPA) launched by UniCredit for Commerzbank, after the Italian bank has come to control nearly half of the capital of the German entity.
Following the formal notification of the operation by UniCredit, the community authorities must now assess the possible repercussions in terms of competition arising from this transaction and determine whether to authorize the operation at this stage or, on the contrary, if it is necessary to open a thorough investigation.
UniCredit concluded the acceptance period of its voluntary purchase offer for Commerzbank with the incorporation of shares equivalent to 17.60% of the share capital of the German bank, which places its total participation in the entity at 47.59%.
However, the Italian financial group has specified that this position actually represents 49.65% of the voting rights of Commerzbank, given that the treasury shares of the German entity lack voting rights.
On May 5, the bank based in Milan opened the acceptance period for its OPA on Commerzbank, with which it sought to exceed the 30% threshold and which contemplated the exchange of "0.485 shares of UniCredit for each one of the German".