UniCredit director: Europe needs bigger banks
– Europe needs bigger, stronger banks to support our industry – he said Andrea Orcel at Tuesday’s meeting in Milan. – Without pan-European champions, the common bloc will never realize its ambitions or overcome the development challenges that experts talk about – added Orcel.
Recently, the Italian UniCredit increased its shares in Commerzbank to 21%. Andrea Orcel, dthe director of UniCredit emphasizes that a full takeover of Commerzbank by UniCredit still remains an option. Orcel said the UniCredit and Commerzbank case is a “test for Europe.”
– Just as we at UniCredit have found a balance between Italian roots and becoming a truly federal, pan-European group, Europe must strike a balance between national identity and European unity, Orcel noted on Tuesday.
Frustration in Berlin
UniCredit’s actions caused frustration in Berlin. The German government, which owns 12 percent. shares in Commerzbank, he was not satisfied with the Italians’ approach. Well, Italians from UniCredit bought 4.5%. shares in a government offer addressed to investors, and most of the remaining shares were obtained using derivatives.
German Finance Minister Christnian Lindner said on Monday that he would prefer the government package to be sold in the so-called free circulation. Lindner added that UniCredit’s approach irritated him.
Objectives of the European Union
However, apart from Germany, most shareholders reacted positively to the Italians’ move.
Many representatives of the Italian government believe that the takeover of the German Commerzbank by the competitive Italian UniCredit would mean the achievement of the goals of the European Unioni.e. the removal of barriers to the flow of goods and services in the EU.
Earlier, he also referred to the potential takeover of Commerzbank by UniCredit BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, calling for greater integration in the banking sector in Europe. BlackRock is the largest shareholder in UniCredit and the third largest in Commerzbank.
