00:00What are we to make of this? Is it a bid? Is it not a bid? You've got Unicredit saying
00:04it doesn't expect to actually take full ownership just yet.
00:10Yeah, let's try to unpack what's happened, you know, a few minutes ago.
00:14So essentially Unicredit launched a takeover bid in shares for Commerzbank and so this is a fact.
00:20But at the same time, Andrea Orchell is saying we don't plan to take full control of Commerzbank with this
00:27bid.
00:28So why are you making the bid? So he's making the bid because Unicredit was already very close to 30%.
00:35Commerzbank is doing some buyback of its own share, which probably would have let Unicredit to cross the threshold.
00:41So making a formal bid with a very small premium 4% versus the closing price makes Unicredit in the
00:48position to then have free hands if they want to further raise their stake in the future.
00:53And somehow he's telling the market, I'm here to stay and I'm here to open a formal dialogue with the
01:02Commerzbank top management at this stage.
01:05So, yes, it is a takeover bid. No Unicredit is not planning to take full control of Commerzbank with the
01:12bid.
01:13But, yes, Andrea Orchell is saying we are here to stay.
01:17And, Tommaso, you point to that 4% premium and you suggest it's modest. It is modest.
01:22And then you talk about the fact that they want to have talks, maybe.
01:25Do you get the sense that Orchell is seeing something, hearing something within the kind of halls of power in
01:31Germany that may actually move this conversation further?
01:34How is Germany likely to respond to this?
01:38So, I mean, as we know, Germany so far has opposed a takeover bid by Unicredit, which has said quite
01:46vocally they don't want Unicredit to make a takeover bid.
01:49What has changed at the moment?
01:51We don't know.
01:51We are waiting to get, you know, any feedback from the German government on this, from German authorities.
01:58I think that this is quite crucial somehow that Andrea Orchell is coming vocally and saying, you know, we are
02:06still interested in Commerzbank.
02:08We have a stake which is getting close to 30%.
02:10We're making a bid to cross the 30% stake, which gives us free hand.
02:15So, if there is a message here that Andrea Orchell is giving, is that we are here to stay and
02:22we are still interested in making this deal.
02:24And he's starting to do a takeover bid, which most likely he's saying won't allow Unicredit to take full control,
02:31but it is a bid.
02:34Okay.
02:34So, Simasso, so it's interesting.
02:36So, he's keeping, he's here to stay.
02:37He's keeping his options open, maybe suggesting if anybody is going to take ownership of Commerzbank, then he's certainly at
02:43the table.
02:44But are we any closer to getting any of these cross-border M&A deals done within the banking sector?
02:49Because so far they've remained elusive.
02:53You know, how many years we have been discussing about the fact, generally speaking, the market that Europe needs strong
02:59banks to compete with the American, with the Asian, with the Chinese banks.
03:03This is something that everything, every politician tells you it's right to do it.
03:07But when it gets to actual bid, then we see again, you know, nationalists prevailing.
03:12Let's see if Unicredit Commerce Bank would eventually be the first case when we get to a cross-border big
03:19deal in Europe to start, you know, the creation of an independent, bigger, stronger banking industry in the European Union.
03:27We'll see in the coming weeks and months.
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