The CEO of UniCredit, Andrea Orcel, and the German Minister of Finance, Lars Klingbeil, are scheduled to hold a direct meeting on September 14, just a few weeks after the Italian entity completed its voluntary public takeover bid for Commerzbank and began to control nearly half of the capital of the German bank.
Sources from the German government have confirmed to various media the information advanced by the Italian newspaper "Repubblica" and have indicated that a possible meeting between Orcel and the president of Commerzbank, Jens Weidmann, is also being considered.
So far, the details of the meeting have not been disclosed, although in recent days the government led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz has softened its position regarding the operation on the second largest commercial bank in Germany, after the final result of the takeover bid was known.
In this context, high-level officials from the German government are reportedly studying the possibility of divesting the 12.7% state stake in Commerzbank in favor of UniCredit, provided that both entities manage to reach a strategic understanding.
The goal of Berlin is to pave the way for the two entities to reach a beneficial agreement in financial and corporate strategy terms, so that Commerzbank maintains a relevant role in the future direction of the entity.
UniCredit announced the end of the acceptance period for its voluntary takeover bid for Commerzbank with the incorporation of shares equivalent to 17.60% of the share capital of the German bank, thus raising its presence in the entity to 47.59%. However, UniCredit itself has specified that this stake represents 49.65% of the voting rights of Commerzbank, since the shares of the German bank lack voting rights.
The Italian entity opened the acceptance period for its takeover bid for Commerzbank on May 5, with the aim of exceeding the 30% threshold and through the proposal of an exchange of 0.485 shares of UniCredit for each share of the German bank.