UniCredit holds 47.6% of Commerzbank as cross-border takeover talks progress

UniCredit now controls 47.6% of Commerzbank’s shares. What started as quiet share purchases in 2024 has snowballed into the most consequential European banking takeover attempt in over a decade, and Germany is finally coming to the table. The Italian lender’s march toward a controlling stake in Germany’s second-largest private bank has been anything but smooth. But after months of political resistance, hostile-bid labeling, and board-level pushback, the mood in Frankfurt and Berlin has shifted from defiance to negotiation. Commerzbank’s chairman formally invited merger talks in late July 2026, marking a turning point that few observers expected when this saga began. How UniCredit built its position UniCredit began accumulating Commerzbank shares back in 2024, a move that immediately rattled German officials. The German government still holds a legacy stake in Commerzbank, a remnant of the taxpayer bailout during the 2008 financial crisis. In May 2026, UniCredit launched an all-share tender offer that valued Commerzbank at roughly 37 to 39 billion euros. The premium over market price was described as low single digits. Commerzbank’s management and the German government labeled the b...