Important news at home Commerzbank. According to a mandatory communication, last January 7th, Barclays would have exceeded the 10% threshold in the German bank, reaching up to 16%: 7,72% in physical shares and the remaining 8,33% in financial instruments.
Specifically, the UK bank acquired holdings in Commerzbank consisting of synthetic long positions following the entry into derivative transactions with market counterparties and physical long positions to hedge derivative transactions relating to Commerzbank.
A news destined to trigger further controversies in Germanya, given that, after Unicredit, another foreign bank has got its hands on the second largest institution in the country. It is difficult to forget the harsh words pronounced after entering Piazza Gae Aulenti by former Prime Minister Scholz who had spoken of “hostile takeovers” and “unfriendly attacks”. A few days ago, the former head of the Bundesbank and now chairman of the supervisory board of Commerzbank also expressed his opinion on the issue, declaring that "Unicredit's style is not a good one" and that the chances of an amicable merger are very slim.
Barclays is reportedly acting on behalf of a client: is it Unicredit?
According to rumors, Barclays reportedly has no sights set on Commerzbank. The holdings “are not intended to implement any strategic objective of Barclays in relation to Commerzbank nor to achieve trading profits from a financial investment in Commerzbank,” it said in a statement.
In reverse Barclays is said to be acting on behalf of a client. And many are wondering if that customer is not really Unicredit given that in recent months, the British bank had helped the institute led by Andrea Orcel to build its potential share in Commerzbank together with Citi and Bank of America. According to Milano Finanza, which cites market sources, it would not be an additional share, but Barclays would be acting as a counterparty to Unicredit in the context of a contract regarding the potential 28% share already optioned by the Italian bank.
Let us remember that, at the moment, Unicredit has a potential share of 28% of the German bank, 9,5% of which in direct shares. The remaining 18,5% are derivatives that will have to be converted into securities after the green light from the ECB, expected by the end of February.