Commerzbank shares are going down significantly today: with a loss of almost three percent at times, they are at the bottom of the DAX.
One reason for this is the downgrade of the share by Deutsche Bank: Analyst Benjamin Goy from Deutsche Bank Research maintained his price target of 42 euros for the share, but at the same time canceled his buy recommendation.
Many of the price drivers, such as rising interest income and generous dividends, have either already been priced in or have now been realized due to the above-average price development on the market, he wrote. This valuation of Deutsche Bank makes Commerzbank shares less attractive, which is why they lose.
Ideally takeover in January
At the same time, there was news yesterday about the takeover of Commerzbank by UniCredit. According to insiders, the federal government is insisting on early commitments from the major Italian bank for a jointly coordinated takeover.
The Reuters news agency learned from government circles on Tuesday evening that UniCredit boss Andrea Orcel would soon make commitments in this direction. The basis for the commitments was probably the conversation between Orcel and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) at the beginning of September.
The reason: There had already been reports that the UniCredit boss was now accelerating the takeover. Orcel is working to take control of Commerzbank in the coming months, according to the Financial Times (FT). As soon as the necessary approvals for the takeover of the Frankfurter Bank were received, he wanted to call an extraordinary general meeting. In the best case scenario, this could happen in January. The Italians had previously promised the second quarter.
Restructuring of the supervisory board planned
According to the FT report, Orcel also wants to reject the federal government's demands to continue to be represented with two seats on the Commerzbank supervisory board. The Börsen-Zeitung also reports that UniCredit is positioning its candidates for key positions at Commerzbank with the bank supervisors.
Discussions are currently underway with the financial regulator BaFin in this regard, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter. According to FT and Börsen-Zeitung, UniCredit wants to replace the entire capital side of the Commerzbank supervisory board.
It is said that the current Commerzbank boss Bettina Orlopp also wants to replace Orcel. Meanwhile, she confirmed to the dpa news agency that she has a contract until 2029. "My prerequisite is, of course, that I have the trust of the supervisory board and that I agree with the supervisory board on the strategy."
Against the will of the federal government?
With the planned restructuring of the supervisory board, Orcel would also snub the federal government after Finance Minister Klingbeil insisted on conditions for the takeover at a meeting with the UniCredit boss in September and there was talk of constructive discussions. Orcel had signaled at the time that Commerzbank would remain a listed stock corporation based in Frankfurt and that the medium-sized business would be expanded.
But now these promises appear to be in question. This is probably one of the reasons why the federal government is now insisting on binding commitments from the UniCredit boss and wants him to commit to the conditions that Finance Minister Klingbeil formulated after the meeting with Orcel.
The federal government is the second largest shareholder
The federal government is still Commerzbank's second-largest shareholder with a stake of just over 13 percent - a result of the rescue of the DAX group in the global financial crisis. The federal government therefore has a say in the planned takeover, but cannot prevent it.
Final approval of the merger by the banking regulator of the European Central Bank (ECB) is still pending, and a decision is expected in October. However, the ECB has repeatedly made it clear that it has a positive attitude towards cross-border bank mergers. UniCredit, which now has access to almost 50 percent of the shares, is the largest shareholder.
DAX gives up all profits due to inflation concerns
Concerns about inflation in Europe predominate on the overall market at lunchtime. They weighed on the DAX after a friendly start to trading. At lunchtime there was a small minus of 0.1 percent to 25,380 points. This means that the leading index remains below the 21-day moving line, which is considered an important short-term trend indicator.
