UniCredit: Orcel says that, following Commerz, he ‘does not foresee’ any other major M&A deals

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - “I don’t see” any further major M&A deals for UniCredit following the acquisition of Commerzbank: “I think that what UniCredit can achieve organically is far more than what can be achieved through M&A.” This was stated by CEO Andrea Orcel in an interview with Bloomberg TV. Regarding the failed acquisition of Banco BPM, which is now set to merge with Crédit Agricole Italia, Orcel went on to note: “We thought at the time that it was a good deal”, but then “we changed tack and realised that in Italia we could achieve the same or more through organic growth”. UniCredit is, in fact, increasing its market share in Italia by 10 basis points a month and will be able to accelerate further now that it is the only bank among the top seven in Italia not to be involved in the consolidation. As for Commerzbank’s governance, Orcel did not respond directly to the question about a change in CEO Bettina Orlopp: “UniCredit’s secret ingredient is having everyone on the same page, positive, motivated and proud to achieve our objectives. That is what we want to achieve at Commerzbank, and when we show everyone the true nature of UniCredit, this will happen.’ “The rest is just governance,” he remarked, noting that at present the bank is “happy to retain a 50 per cent stake” in Commerzbank and to share the benefits of growth with the other shareholders, including the German government. “Then, if together with the other stakeholders we see that the best course of action is a merger with HVB, we’ll work out how to do it,” he concluded.

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