UniCredit’s Hostile Approach is Unacceptable Says Merz

Berlin: Chancellor Friedrich Merz has reiterated his opposition to Commerzbank being taken over by Italy’s UniCredit in a letter to the German bank’s workers. UniCredit said last year that it had built a stake of around 28% in Commerzbank and this year it got the green light from the European Central Bank to take this up to 29.9%, just under the 30% threshold that would require a formal takeover offer under German law.

According to Ansa News Agency, Merz expressed his government’s commitment to maintaining a “strong and independent Commerzbank” in the letter, which was published on LinkedIn by Sascha Uebel, the chairman of the Commerzbank works council. Merz criticized UniCredit’s approach, describing it as “uncoordinated and hostile,” and emphasizing that such actions were “unacceptable.”