Commerzbank announced its capital increase plan, a plan that turned out to be better than expected. I am indeed 2,5 billion euros that the German institute will inject into its coffers. The main objective is to dilute the shares held by the state and the Allianz insurance group within its capital. Commerzbank also intends to repay 1,6 billion euros of the residual portion of SoFFin, the federal fund to help banks to which it has already repaid 14,3 billion in 2011.
The overall public share should, following these operations, fall below the threshold of 20%, against the current 25%. The capital increase will also allow Commerzbank to strengthen its prudential capital ratio to 8,6 per cent of assets, from the current 7,6 per cent.
