UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel, during his meeting with German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, has put forward one stern condition for the Commerzbank acquisition: removal of Bettina Orlopp as the German lender’s CEO.
The UniCredit boss has also objected to Berlin keeping two supervisory board seats while pressing for the removal of Commerzbank Chairman Jens Weidmann.
Klingbeil and Orcel met on Monday on the Italian bank’s takeover plans, a turning point in the two-year battle for control of one of Germany’s biggest banks after Berlin failed in its attempt to stop UniCredit from taking the venture over.
While Orcel placed the conditions, which the Commerzbank leadership may call humiliating, both sides called the meeting “constructive.”
A spokesperson for Commerzbank dismissed any changes in management, telling Reuters that “The board of Commerzbank AG has running contracts, the supervisory board is elected by the general assembly, and there’s full alignment on strategy.”
“We are currently represented on Commerzbank’s supervisory board and will continue to be,” Klingbeil told reporters on Tuesday, adding, “And, naturally, if and when the time comes, we also expect to be represented on UniCredit’s board.”
“The meeting was a good and constructive initial discussion that will be swiftly followed by others. It’s for both sides to now reflect on this initial discussion so that a way forward can be found in the best interest of all stakeholders and shareholders,” Orcel, from his part, told the media.
Orlopp, in August, said that she was not feeling pressure to give up her role as the Commerzbank CEO after the months-long ownership battle over Germany’s second-largest bank.
Both Orlopp and Weidmann want Commerzbank to remain an independent entity.
Orcel’s latest demand asking for Commerzbank’s top leadership’s removal is not a surprising one, as he, in the past, repeatedly wanted to engage with the German lender’s employee representatives, local authorities, and central government, omitting Orlopp and Weidmann.
“UniCredit is in a position to call an extraordinary shareholder meeting and appoint new shareholder representatives at Commerzbank,” Orcel said in one of his latest statements.
Germany won the right to appoint two board members when it rescued Commerzbank in 2009 during the global financial crisis. The federal government currently retains a stake of 13.3%, and it is not clear how UniCredit could block Berlin retaining two members while it remains a shareholder.
In addition to the board seats, Berlin has set out several other demands relating to a UniCredit takeover, including Commerzbank remaining listed on the stock exchange, keeping its base in Frankfurt and continuing to finance German medium-sized companies at home and abroad.
However, German government officials and Commerzbank executives have officially softened their stance on a potential deal after UniCredit amassed a stake of nearly 50% in its acquisition target.
A combination of UniCredit and Commerzbank would create a bank with more than 1.3 trillion euro in assets across two of the euro zone’s largest economies.
In 2024, Orcel unexpectedly secured Commerzbank as UniCredit’s acquisition target by discreetly accumulating a stake, surprising both the German lender and the government.