Commerz or not Commerz, to raise cash and fuel new strategic dreams, Jean Pierre Mustier's Unicredit has no intention of selling its 8,4% stake in Mediobanca.
In reality, the recent sale of another 17% of Finecobank, Mustier's mention of the "sale of some assets" and Unicredit's repeated insistence in qualifying its stake in Mediobanca as purely financial and not strategic had still recently to think that at the top of the bank in Piazza Gae Aulenti there could be an afterthought and a willingness, under certain conditions, to sell the share held in the institute in Piazzetta Cuccia.
In reality, for now, there is no reason to think that Unicredit wants to leave Mediobanca, even if there are no official comments to that effect. In fact, the sale of Mediobanca is, at this moment, completely unlikely for at least two reasons. Firstly because the Mediobanca share, which today shares at 8,8 euros, has approached the book value (10,2 euros) at which Unicredit has it in its portfolio but is still below it and selling would mean accusing a capital loss. Secondly because, remaining the first shareholder of Mediobanca, Mustier pushes Alberto Nagel and all of Mediobanca's staff to act as a shield for Generali in the event of aggressive intentions against the Lion from abroad.
As for Commerz, the occi are instead all turned to the imminent extraordinary council meeting of the German bank on May 21st when the shareholders will probably put pressure on the CEO Martin Zielke to understand its strategic intentions after the failure of the merger project with Deutsche Bank.
