UniCredit has stepped up preparations for a potential bid for Germany's Com...
) by hiring investment bankers, including a former top German official, three people familiar with the matter said.
Although it is unclear whether and when a bid could be made, UniCredit’s top management has long been interested in expanding in Germany, several sources familiar with their thinking said. It already owns HVB, a large German lender based in Munich. The advances of UniCredit come as the Dutch bank ING Groep has also shown interest in Commerzbank, sources familiar with the matter said. One person with knowledge of those informal talks described them as “intensive”.
One German official said that the government would be open to a merger between Commerzbank and a foreign European rival, such as UniCredit. Any initiation of talks is sure to ruffle feathers at Commerzbank, where employees - fearful for their jobs - had overwhelmingly opposed a tie-up with Deutsche Bank. Unions had forecast as many as 30,000 lost jobs.UniCredit last week announced that it was reducing its exposure to Italy to boost its financial strength, including by cutting down its portfolio of Italian government bonds.
Commerzbank’s talks with Deutsche Bank ended last month after six weeks of negotiations. The banks attributed the failure to the risks of doing a deal, restructuring costs and capital demands.
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