BERLIN (Reuters) -A merger of Italy’s Unicredit (BIT:) and Germany’s Commerzbank (ETR:) might add worth for all stakeholders and create a a lot stronger competitor within the German banking market, Unicredit CEO Andrea Orcel informed Handelsblatt in an interview revealed on Monday.
The Italian banking chief stated a merger might “create a a lot stronger competitor on the German banking market”, higher supporting retail clients and German medium-sized firms, often known as the Mittelstand, that play an necessary function within the financial system.
“For the second, we’re solely a shareholder. However a merger of the 2 banks might result in appreciable added worth for all stakeholders,” he stated.
Orcel’s intensive feedback to the German newspaper make a robust case for a possible merger.
However Orcel stated the ball was now in Commerzbank’s court docket.
“The choice lies with Commerzbank’s stakeholders,” he stated.
Commerzbank declined to touch upon the feedback.
Italy’s second-largest financial institution swooped to take a 9% stake in Commerzbank final week, catching German authorities off guard and getting a hostile reception from native administration, who need to fend it off.
Requested when Unicredit would maintain additional talks with Commerzbank, Orcel informed Handelsblatt stated there was no agency timeline.
If “we come to the conclusion {that a} merger is finest for each of us, that will be nice, however … as a serious shareholder I need to first make sure that our funding develops nicely,” he stated.
