Commerzbank’s long resistance to Unicredit’s assault seems to be heading towards its conclusion. From Frankfurt comes the first explicit signal of a change of course: as reported by the Handelsblatt, the chairman of the supervisory board Jens Weidmann invites the Italian bank to open a direct dialogue with the leadership of the German institution, recognizing that the balance among shareholders now makes it difficult to continue the battle to preserve its independence.
It is an acknowledgment that changes the tone of the clash and opens a different phase, in which negotiation could replace the confrontation that has marked recent months.
TURNING POINT IN THE COMMERZBANK GAME
Weidmann’s appeal is addressed directly to the management in Milan. “The management board and the supervisory board of Commerzbank have repeatedly stated that they are willing to discuss,” he told the economic daily, indicating the path that, in his view, any acquisition operation should follow.
An evident change of tone. However, the most significant passage concerns the assessment of ownership structures. “Although we would have preferred a different scenario, the majority relations at the next general meeting are clear,” Weidmann observed, adding that the time has come to identify, through “constructive talks,” a solution that takes into account the interests of employees, shareholders, and customers.
In the German financial environment, his words are interpreted as recognition that the strategy to defend the bank’s autonomy has now reached its end. For months, Commerzbank’s management, supported by the federal government and the works council, had tried to slow Unicredit’s advance, while the Italian institution continued to strengthen its position in the capital.
THE MESSAGE TO ORCEL AND BERLIN
Weidmann’s intervention comes twenty-four hours after statements by Unicredit’s CEO, Andrea Orcel, who had invited the federal government and worker representatives to start a “constructive dialogue” on the future of the German bank. On that occasion, however, Orcel had not referred to either the management board or the supervisory board of Commerzbank, notes the Handelsblatt.
This is precisely the aspect on which Weidmann now insists, recalling that, in merger and acquisition operations, the natural counterpart remains the top management of the company concerned. The chairman of the supervisory board has urged all parties to “behave like adults,” emphasizing that “there will be no shortcuts through Berlin.”
A message that also defines the role of politics after weeks in which the German government was accused by part of the economic world of trying to hinder an operation now considered hardly avoidable.
LEADERSHIP IN COMPARISON
Symbolically sealing this phase was Handelsblatt itself, which after repeatedly criticizing the government’s strategy towards Unicredit’s offer proposed a curious parallel between Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Andrea Orcel. In a comment in the daily newsletter titled “What Merz Can Learn from Orcel,” the newspaper takes inspiration from the mini government reshuffle underway in Berlin to contrast two models of leadership. On one side Merz, described as a tactician mainly engaged in managing political balances. On the other side Orcel, portrayed as a strategist focused on a precise goal, building the largest European bank.
A journalistic reading that goes beyond the Commerzbank affair and transforms the confrontation between the chancellor and the Italian banker into a reflection on different ways of exercising power, concluding that, while the final result of Merz’s action is still to be verified, Orcel continues to move following a clear and coherent strategy: “In the end, the banker has no more friends, but in return owns a very large bank,” concludes the Handelsblatt.
