Commerzbank formally rejects UniCredit takeover offer

By Tom Sims and Alexander Hübner

FRANKFURT, May 18 (Reuters) – Commerzbank on Monday formally rejected an offer by Italy’s UniCredit to buy the German lender, digging in its heels in its months-long resistance to the cross-border takeover attempt. 

UniCredit has become Commerzbank’s largest shareholder and earlier this month made an offer to buy Commerzbank shares in a deal that values the bank at nearly 39 billion euros ($45.37 billion) and below its market price.

Commerzbank’s supervisory and management boards “recommend that shareholders not accept UniCredit’s exchange offer”, the bank said.

It said that the offer “does not reflect the fundamental value of Commerzbank” and that it was “vague and entails considerable risks”.

Commerzbank has long criticised a tie-up, recently calling UniCredit’s offer “vague and coercive” with “quasi-nil premium”.

But until Monday, it had held out on giving a final opinion and recommendation to shareholders.

The opposition is likely to further drag out the battle for control of one of Germany’s top banks that started in 2024 when UniCredit began amassing its stake in a competitor that has grown close to 30%.

($1 = 0.8596 euros)

(Reporting by Tom Sims, Editing by Linda Pasquini, Kirsten Donovan)