Commerzbank Weidmann ready takeover talks UniCredit no shortcut via Berlin Frankfurt
Commerzbank's supervisory board chairman Jens Weidmann said Friday the bank is ready for takeover talks with UniCredit $UCG, effectively dropping its resistance after the Italian lender built a stake near 48%, enough to control shareholder votes. Weidmann insisted there will be '
Commerzbank's supervisory board chairman Jens Weidmann, a former president of Germany's Bundesbank, said Friday that Commerzbank $CBK is ready to open takeover talks with Italy's UniCredit $UCG, a shift that effectively ends the German lender's long resistance to the deal. In an interview with Handelsblatt, Weidmann said the balance of power at Commerzbank's next annual shareholder meeting is now clear after UniCredit built its stake to roughly 48%, enough to control shareholder resolutions. Weidmann called for constructive talks to set key terms for employees, shareholders and customers, but drew a line on process: he said there will be 'no shortcut via Berlin,' a rebuke of UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel, who had called on the German government and Commerzbank's works council for talks about the bank's future without directly addressing Commerzbank's own board. Hesse's state premier Boris Rhein backed Weidmann's position, saying any agreement needs to secure Frankfurt's status as a financial center and calling for support from the federal government. The German government has previously opposed a UniCredit takeover of Commerzbank, and Berlin's posture will now be tested as the two banks' management teams sit down directly. The outcome will help decide whether Germany keeps a second major national banking champion alongside Deutsche Bank, or whether Frankfurt's banking landscape becomes more consolidated under Italian ownership.