Commerzbank works council prepares criminal complaint against UniCredit over takeover bid market manipulation claims
Commerzbank's $CBK works council is preparing a criminal complaint against UniCredit $UCG, alleging market manipulation in its takeover push. UniCredit has built a stake above 37%, and its early-May offer has drawn acceptances for 11.22% so far. The council warns of up to 23,000
The fight over the future of Commerzbank $CBK has turned from a boardroom contest into a legal one, with thousands of jobs cited as the stake. The German lender's general works council is preparing a criminal complaint against UniCredit $UCG, the Italian bank pursuing it, on suspicion of market manipulation and misleading conduct under sections 119 and 120 of the German Securities Trading Act. The council alleges that UniCredit engineered the reported acceptance numbers to create an illusion of momentum behind its bid. The figures so far are modest relative to the ambition: UniCredit submitted its exchange offer in early May and had drawn acceptances for 11.22% of Commerzbank shares as of the latest count, even as it has built a direct and synthetic stake of just over 37%. Employee representatives warn that a full takeover could cost up to 23,000 jobs, pointing to UniCredit's track record with its Munich-based subsidiary HVB. The dispute is more than a domestic labor fight. A cross-border combination of this size touches German political sensitivities about national banking champions and the broader question of how integrated Europe's banking market is allowed to become.