The Italian Unicredit parent company of Bank Austria is investing in the German Commerzbank. As the German Federal Finance Agency announced on Wednesday, it sold the entire 4.49 percent package to the Italian institute in the announced first placement of Commerzbank shares. Unicredit outbid all other offers within the accelerated placement process.
According to the information, the purchase price was 13.20 euros per share, resulting in total proceeds of 702 million euros. Commerzbank shares closed trading on Tuesday at a price of 12.60 euros.
The sale reduces the German state’s share in Commerzbank to twelve percent from around 16.5 percent previously. The German government helped the bank during the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009 and saved it with capital aid totaling 18.2 billion euros. The finance agency, which handles the German state’s capital market transactions, announced last week that it wanted to sell its stake in Commerzbank in several steps. “This first partial sale of the stake marks the completion of the successful stabilization of the bank and thus the exit of the federal government,” explained finance agency head Eva Grunwald.