FRANKFURT: UniCredit’s recent push for a tie-up with Commerzbank has prompted calls by a top official of the German bank for the Italian lender’s CEO, Andrea Orcel, to abandon the pursuit.
With UniCredit continuing to face fierce resistance in Germany, Orcel last month sent a flurry of letters to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and others, urging them to come to the table to discuss a deal.
But the latest offensive, which only became public this week, has come up against steadfast resistance from Sascha Uebel, deputy chair of Commerzbank’s supervisory board, adding to previous opposition from the German government and the bank’s board since UniCredit’s initial approach last September.
“His next step should be to sell his shares, take his profits and go home,” Uebel told Reuters on Friday.
UniCredit, which last year bought a large stake in the Commerzbank and began to press for a merger, declined to comment.
In his letters, Orcel wrote that a tie-up would be beneficial “economically, socially and politically” and would create a new national banking champion for Germany.
Orcel was also given short shrift by the Verdi labour union, which said its concerns had not been allayed, according to copies of their correspondence seen by Reuters.
“We are continuing to campaign against a merger and are in favour of an independent Commerzbank,” Verdi boss Frank Werneke wrote to Orcel in a response dated July 2.
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