However, State sold shares accumulated during 2008-2010 banking crisis to bidder in auction
Those naive enough to think Germany swore off nationalism for good in 1945 might struggle to explain Berlin’s outraged reaction this week to UniCredit’s stealthy bid for Commerzbank . Photograph: Daniel Roland/AFP
Berlin’s surprise is, in itself surprising given how ING, BNP Paribas and UniCredit have all expressed an interest in Germany’s Commerzbank stake whenever it decided to sell. Its governor Boris Rhein, of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union , suggested the “negligent” Scholz-Lindner auction had “surrendered a central financier of German SMEs to the interests of a foreign bank”.Commerzbank chairman Jens Weidmann, who oversaw the banking crisis state buy-in as ex-chancellor Angela Merkel’s financial adviser, expressed concern for the bank’s independence while unions fear large job cuts.
It only moved to Frankfurt in 1990 and today is Germany’s second-largest bank with revenues of €10.5 billion and 42,000 employees, around 38,000 of whom work in Germany. In return for a €18 billion leg-up, the German state took a 25 per cent “silent participation” stake. Starting the sell-off off its Commerzbank stake has triggered the very takeover bid previously confined to business page speculation.
Unicredit Olaf-Scholz Angela-Merkel Christian-Lindner
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