Unicredit's actions at Commerzbank 'unfriendly attacks' • News • onvista

NEW YORK/BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Chancellor Olaf Scholz has sharply criticized Unicredit's actions at Commerzbank. The SPD politician said during his visit to New York: “Unfriendly attacks, hostile takeovers are not what is a good thing for banks.” That is why the federal government has also clearly positioned itself in this direction and made it very clear “that we do not consider this to be an appropriate course of action in Europe and in Germany, that one tries, so to speak, without any cooperation, without any consultation, without any feedback, to aggressively take on a company using unfriendly methods.”

Commerzbank is a bank that is successfully operating economically, said Scholz. They ensure that the German economy and small and medium-sized businesses receive the financing they need. “It is a bank that can do this in its independence.”

The major Italian bank Unicredit has secured additional shares in the Frankfurt-based DAX group through financial instruments and thus holds around 21 percent of the shares. At the same time, Unicredit will continue to increase its share in Commerzbank. This makes an official takeover offer for Germany's second-largest private bank more likely – despite the federal government not wanting to sell any more Commerzbank shares for the time being. Unicredit took advantage of the federal government's partial exit from Commerzbank and surprisingly bought into the DAX group./hoe/DP/nas