(Bloomberg) -- UniCredit SpA Chief Executive Officer Andrea Orcel said he intends to play an active role in Commerzbank AG’s strategy after becoming a major investor, reiterating a stance he outlined in a Bloomberg TV interview last week.
The Italian lender will be “an active shareholder” if eventual talks for a combination of the two banks aren’t successful, and will work to “accelerate the transformation of the bank to create more value for shareholders,” German newspaper Handelsblatt cited Orcel as saying in an interview published on Monday.
UniCredit last week disclosed a 9% stake in Commerzbank, making it the largest investor after the German government. The move came as a surprise to many in Germany.
The latest comments from Orcel echoed his words in a Bloomberg TV interview on Sept. 12, when he pointed out that he’d be seeking to influence Commerzbank’s strategy as he thought it could be improved. He highlighted UniCredit’s higher profitability and announced he’d be presenting fresh ideas to Commerzbank’s management on what to change.
What Bloomberg Intelligence Says:
UniCredit’s 9% Commerzbank stake rekindles the potential for a tie-up to create Europe’s No. 3 bank by market cap — €78 billion — boosting the Italian lender’s EPS 10%, with a midteens return on invested capital upon transaction success. That could kickstart crossborder-deal scope even though political hurdles remain a challenge.
— Lento Tang and Philip Richards, BI analysts
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