UniCredit Buys $774-Million Commerzbank Stake From German Government

By Adria Calatayud

Italy's UniCredit bought a minority stake in smaller German peer Commerzbank for 702 million euros ($773.6 million) from the German government.

The German finance agency said Wednesday that it sold a first block of its crisis-era stake in Commerzbank, reducing its shareholding to 12% from 16.49%. The entire package of shares was sold to UniCredit, which outbid all other offers, the agency said.

The move comes after Commerzbank said late Tuesday that Chief Executive Manfred Knof would step down from his position after his contract runs out at the end of 2025.

The German government sold its shares in Commerzbank at 13.20 euros each, a premium to the bank's closing price of 12.60 euros on Tuesday, the agency said. The government remains the largest shareholder in Commerzbank after the sale, it said.

Last week, the German government outlined plans to begin a process to exit the stake it built in Commerzbank during the financial crisis of 2008, the latest move by a European government to offload stakes in banks they took seeking to stabilize their financial systems.

"Commerzbank has shown to be standing firmly on its own feet again," said Eva Grunwald, member of the executive board of Germany's finance agency.

The agency said it had committed to a 90-day restriction on sales of further shares, with certain exceptions that weren't detailed.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 11, 2024 01:45 ET (05:45 GMT)

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