Deutsche Bank's difficulties are well known. According to a study published last August 9 by the Zew research institute in Mannheim, the leading German private bank would have a capital 'hole' of 19 billion in the event of a serious financial crisis. Its value on the Stock Exchange is approximately 17 billion, a level that excludes the possibility of carrying out a capital increase.
For this reason, the top management of the German institute is thought to be considering a move that until yesterday would have been completely unthinkable. According to some rumors reported by the German press, the first contacts between Deutsche bank and Commerzbank, 15% in public hands, began at the beginning of August, in order to prepare the field for a possible merger. The newspapers reveal that the negotiations would have seen the involvement of the chief financial officer of Deutsche Bank, Marcus Schenk, and the CEO, John Cryan, in coordination with the chairman of the supervisory board, Paul Achleitner. The negotiations, according to the newspapers, would still be in an initial phase and would have suffered a halt in the last few days.
Cryan admitted that he had met with the number one of Commerzbank, Martin Zielke, and defined the implementation of a series of mergers as inevitable: «We need aggregations, but also beyond national borders because only in this way can we be profitable in the long-term and internationally competitive".
Despite this, the CEO of Deutsche Bank said that the bank is not looking for partners in the German market.
However, the prospect of a merger of the two German banking giants seems to be gaining favor with investors. In Frankfurt, the titles of both institutes were "rewarded" with a shower of purchases. At the moment, Commertzbank shares gain 4,2% to 6,36 euros, while those of Deutsche Bank rise by 3,18% to 13,30 euros. Both titles beat (and by a lot) the performance of the German list which proceeds unchanged.
