Orcel: 'Without Commerz, focus within the group, but now the shareholders have the floor'

Ahead on Commerzbank, but without forcing the hand. UniCredit outlines Piazza Gae Aulenti's strategy on the German bank, while pointing out that it still has a clear alternative available. 'If we don't achieve control, we will stop and focus on other internal priorities,' says CEO Andrea Orcel in an interview with Bloomberg TV, the day after the presentation of the plan on the Commerzbank dossier.

Orcel yesterday outlined to the market the scenario that envisages UniCredit acquiring control of Commerzbank with the voluntary public exchange offer to be launched in Germany on 5 May. And which aims to create a giant in Germany thanks to the integration of Commerz and Hypovereinsbank, today already controlled by UniCredit, so as to create a reality of 21 billion in profits, net revenues of 45 billion and a cost/income ratio of around 30% by 2030: numbers well above those promised in 2028 by the current Commerzbank management.

In this context, the German resistance remains clear: Commerzbank has rejected UniCredit's approach, accusing it of adopting 'hostile and misleading tactics' in a 'speculative attempt to dismantle the bank'. Orcel does not flinch. And he confirms the line already known to the market: the objective is to rise above the threshold of 30% of the capital - today UniCredit is just below it, considering also the positions in derivatives - without necessarily aiming for control immediately, maintaining strategic flexibility. "If we exceed 30%, we are no longer obliged" to launch a total offer, Orcel explained. 'It will be our decision whether and when to increase the share'.

Of course, the focus is now on the bank's other shareholders, who will have to consider the option of joining the takeover bid proposed by UniCredit. "It is now up to the 70 per cent of shareholders present besides us to decide whether to remain in Commerzbank on the current terms or to opt for another solution," he said. "We were dismissed after two weeks with a refusal to enter into the merits, so we were left with no choice but to publicly present our point of view."

However, the confrontation with Frankfurt remains complex. Not least because the issue of control remains in the background, in a scenario in which Orcel has been trying to build an alliance with Germany's second-largest bank for more than 18 months. "We would have hoped to be able to have a dialogue with the German government," noted Orcel, emphasising that "Commerzbank has refused to talk, but we continue to seek dialogue with them". Despite the tensions, for UniCredit the transaction remains 'a win-win situation for both parties' and 'market-friendly'.