Italian lender UniCredit mentioned Monday it has additional elevated its stake in German rival Commerzbank to round 21%, making it the biggest shareholder.
Italy’s second-biggest financial institution, which stunned markets 10 days in the past by revealing a 9% stake in Commerzbank, mentioned it took one other 11.5% via monetary devices.
UniCredit added that it had requested European Central Bank (ECB) permission to lift its stake to 29.9%.
The news it was in search of permission to lift that determine fuelled hypothesis that UniCredit, which already owns German lender HypoVereinsbank, would possibly take over Commerzbank outright.
UniCredit chief government Andrea Orcel dominated out a takeover bid in an interview final week.
On Monday, the Italian lender mentioned it had “full flexibility and optionality to either retain its shareholding, sell its participation … or increase the stake further.”
It mentioned it might rely upon the talks with Commerzbank, its administration and supervisory boards, and its wider stakeholders in Germany.
Commerzbank didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Berlin bailed out Commerzbank with billions of euros in 2009 after the worldwide monetary disaster pushed it to the brink of collapse.
Source: www.dailysabah.com