MILAN (Reuters) – UniCredit President Andrea Ursel attended a virtual meeting held by the Italian bank on Friday with Commerzbank (ETR:) after it became the German bank’s largest private investor, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Commerzbank’s CEO-designate, Bettina Orlop, was also present at the conference call on Friday, which a UniCredit source previously described as the type of meetings companies hold with their investors. UniCredit declined to comment.
Orlaub, who was appointed chief executive of Commerzbank earlier this week, told a financial conference in London on Thursday that the two banks would meet to “exchange views” now that UniCredit is a shareholder.
On Saturday, Italian newspapers reported for the first time Urcel’s presence. Daily Il Sole 24 Ore also said Commerzbank’s financial objectives were discussed during the call, while no possible merger was mentioned.
Orcel said publicly that a merger would be the best outcome after Italy’s second-largest bank this month built a potential 21% stake in the German rival, subject to supervisory clearance.
However, the merger would require broad support from all stakeholders involved, according to Orcel, who did not rule out selling the UniCredit stake — a move that would likely erase the 30% takeover premium built into Commerzbank shares since UniCredit bought the stake.
Tensions in Germany
UniCredit’s investment sparked tensions in Germany, where Commerzbank’s management, employees and the country’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, expressed their opposition.
The Italian government has so far adopted a more cautious stance, but Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said this week that he did not want UniCredit to move its base to Germany as part of the deal.
A UniCredit spokesperson confirmed on Saturday that because UniCredit is only an investor in Commerzbank, there have been no discussions about where the combined entity would be set up.
“In any case, UniCredit is headquartered in Italy, has always been in Italy, and there is no reason to change this,” the spokesperson added.
Reuters reported on Friday that UniCredit was discussing with unions plans to reduce its central offices by allowing up to 1,000 employees to take early retirement and retraining another 600 who would then be largely transferred to branches.
A smaller corporate center in Milan could be an advantage if UniCredit follows through with the deal.
Several sources familiar with UniCredit’s long-term plans to take over Commerzbank say the location of the headquarters was always a stumbling block, with Germany keen to defend Commerzbank’s German roots and Italy concerned that UniCredit would become “too German.” “.
Germany will account for more than 55% of customer loans and deposits in the combined pool.