Andrea Orcel, chief executive officer of Unicredit, in London, UK, on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023.
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UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel on Wednesday told CNBC that the share price of potential takeover target Commerzbank is currently too prohibitively expensive for a merger deal.
UniCredit has built a surprise stake in Commerzbank of 28% since September through derivatives and has the European Central Bank’s authorization to hold up to 29.9% in the lender.
When asked by CNBC’s Annette Weisbach whether the Italian bank would proceed with an acquisition offer at premium to Commerzbank’s current share value, Orcel said, “At this [share] level, we would not see value for our investors. Actually, we would not, we are very happy for the gain we’ve had on the 30[% stake], but we wouldn’t see value for our investors.”
He stressed that UniCredit is presently “far away” from a merger bid with Commerzbank and would first seek a “constructive solution” to opposition from the German government.
“Secondly, in our opinion the share price has gone well beyond the fundamentals. There is a lot of activity which is directed at keeping the share price at higher level than you see every day, but we’re patient,” Orcel said.
CNBC has reached out to Commerzbank for comment.
This breaking news story is being updated.
