UniCredit talked to top German officials before Commerzbank stake buy, document shows
UniCredit has pressed for a possible tie-up with Commerzbank
Germany has said it was surprised by UniCredit's move
UniCredit declines to comment
Updates with finance ministry comment and official in paragraph 18, detail in 23
By John O'Donnell, Christian Kraemer and Tom Sims
FRANKFURT, Oct 16 (Reuters) -UniCredit CRDI.MI executives had conversations with top German government officials, including from the chancellery and the finance ministry, in the months before buying part of the state's stake in Commerzbank CBKG.DE, according to a parliamentary document reviewed by Reuters.
The details of the meetings are presented in a government response to Matthias Hauer, a German lawmaker, and are the fullest account yet of contact between Germany and UniCredit before the Italian bank swooped to buy a large stake in Commerzbank. The German government has said it was surprised by UniCredit's move.
UniCredit has since pressed for a possible tie-up in what would be the most ambitious attempt yet at a pan-European bank merger, but it faces considerable political hurdles in Germany ahead of national elections.
Florian Toncar, the state secretary in charge of the stake sale, spoke with Marion Hoellinger, the head of UniCredit's German arm, on Sept. 4 about a government agency announcement on the stake sale and again on Sept. 10, the document showed.
UniCredit Chairman Pier Carlo Padoan met with Joerg Kukies, a top official in the German chancellery, on the sidelines of a conference in Paris on May 16, according to the government's answer, that also flagged two further exchanges with chancellery officials, on June 7 and May 30.
While the document sheds light on various meetings, it offers few details of the content of the discussions.
Hauer, a Christian Democrat lawmaker, said the answer showed a "lively exchange" between the German government and the Italian bank, urging a further inquiry into how the government had sold the entire stake for sale to UniCredit rather than a number of investors.
"The German government ... make out as if they have nothing to do with the chaos at Commerzbank. But they caused it," he said.
The finance ministry declined to comment on such criticism, but government sources have said the state's stake sale was carried out in the usual way and officials were caught off guard by UniCredit's swoop. UniCredit declined to comment.
The German government became the top shareholder in Commerzbank after a bailout during the global financial crisis more than a decade ago.
Commerzbank is one of Germany's few major privately owned banks and a big lender to the country's so-called Mittelstand of medium-sized companies that form the backbone of Europe's largest economy.
The document provides some details on the timeline in the days and hours ahead of the Sept. 11 announcement that UniCredit had amassed its 9% stake in Commerzbank.
For the first time, UniCredit's Hoellinger also emerges as a central figure in communication with the government.
Her Sept. 4 call with Toncar came a day after Germany's Finance Agency, an arm of the finance ministry, said that it would begin to sell shares in Commerzbank.
The document provides no detail on the content of that conversation. But Toncar told Hoellinger to speak with the finance agency, which was overseeing the sale, a person with direct knowledge of the conversation said.
On the evening of Sept. 10, at 8:13 pm, just hours after the finance agency announced it was gathering bids for Commerzbank from investors, Hoellinger and Toncar spoke on the phone about UniCredit's investment in Commerzbank, the document said.
The call was very short, a finance ministry spokesperson said. Only then did Toncar learn that UniCredit had built up a large stake, a separate official said.
When UniCredit announced that it had acquired its 9% stake - half from the German government and half on the open market - it also said it would apply to regulators to buy more.
That immediately prompted Commerzbank executives to launch a defence strategy as they pursued independence as a stand-alone bank.
Commerzbank's management, employees and the nation's chancellor, Olaf Scholz, have all voiced opposition to a potential takeover, but at least one big investor and some business leaders favour talks.
UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel, who has long held an interest in a tie-up with Commerzbank, has recently said that a combination would be the best outcome. But he's also said he could sell its stake.
The document said that Kukies attended an event with Orcel in June but that there had been no bilateral talks.
UniCredit vs. Commerzbank https://reut.rs/4h0b4c6
Reporting By John O'Donnell; editing by Elisa Martinuzzi, Mark Potter and Christian Schmollinger
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
