UniCredit CEO says Commerzbank now too expensive for takeover offer

Unicredit CEO Andrea Orcel told CNBC on Wednesday that the course of action of the potential control objective Commerzbank is currently too expensive for a merger agreement.

Unicredit has built a surprise participation in Commerzbank of 28% since September in derivatives and has the authorization of the European Central Bank to hold up to 29.9% at the lender.

When asked Annette Weisbach of CNBC if the Italian bank would make an offer to acquire the premium to the current value on the part of Commerzbank, Orcel said: ” [share] Level, we would not see the value of our investors. In fact, we would not do it, we are very happy with the gain we had on the 30th[% stake]But we would not see any value for our investors. “”

The actions of the German bank, which have fought against the spectrum of a takeover since September, have increased by 76% of the year to date, benefiting from a wider gathering of German shares after the Berlin pivot to soften certain tax rules and facilitate the higher defense expenses earlier this year.

ORCEL has stressed that one is currently “far” from an offer of merger with Commerzbank and would first seek a “constructive solution” to the opposition of the German government.

“Secondly, in our opinion, the course of action went far beyond the fundamental principles. There are a lot of activities that aim to maintain the course of action at a higher level that you do not see every day, but we are patient,” said Orcel.

CNBC contacted Commerzbank to comment. The German bank has displayed a better than expected leads to the first trimesterWhen net profit increased by 29% annual.

Orcel insisted that his bank was initially invited to bid on Commerzbank – but the unicredit game encountered continuous resistance from the German lender and the Berlin administration, both under the previous coalition of Olaf Scholz and the current government of Friedrich Merz.

More recently, in a letter Addressing Commerzbank staff, Merz said that “an uncoordinated and hostile approach such as that of Unicredit is unacceptable”, adding that the Berlin administration “is based on a strong and independent commerzbank”.

Since the end of last year, Unicredit has been divided between two potential hostile acquisition fronts, also faced with the opposition for its simultaneous takeover for Italian peers BPM Bank.