UniCredit wins clearance to lift Commerzbank stake past prior cap
UniCredit says regulators have removed the ceiling on its Commerzbank holding, putting it on course for roughly half the voting rights by year-end.
Published
UniCredit says it has been cleared to raise its stake in Commerzbank beyond the limits that previously applied, and expects to hold about 50% of the German bank's voting rights by the end of the year.
The move follows a formal takeover approach. UniCredit launched a voluntary public exchange offer to Commerzbank shareholders on 5 May 2026, according to Commerzbank's own reasoned statement on the bid. That offer needed clearance from Germany's Federal Cartel Office in addition to approval from the European Central Bank, according to AKM.RU. Until those approvals were in place, UniCredit could not fully exercise the voting rights attached to shares it had already picked up, Yahoo Finance reported.
Before this clearance, UniCredit held 49.65% of Commerzbank's voting rights, just short of outright control, according to Law360. Reuters has reported, via MarketScreener, that UniCredit's aggregate stake has already passed 50%, with its non-derivative holding alone exceeding the 30% threshold it had set for the exchange offer. Yahoo Finance has reported that UniCredit's plan includes calling an extraordinary shareholder meeting and replacing all 10 shareholder representatives on Commerzbank's 20-seat supervisory board. Commerzbank has said in the past, as reported by Reuters via Investing.com, that it was not coordinating with UniCredit and that its results show its independent business model is working.
Removing the voting cap clears the clearest regulatory obstacle standing between UniCredit and a full takeover, shifting it from a blocked minority holder toward effective control faster than the informal alignment between UniCredit and the German government had suggested. It marks a sharp escalation from UniCredit's earlier, more cautious positioning and its denials of unrelated acquisition interest, because voting power near half of Commerzbank changes the leverage UniCredit holds over board seats, integration terms and any eventual merger structure. The clearance also lands alongside UniCredit's separate portfolio moves in Germany and Russia, pointing to a wider restructuring drive rather than a single stake increase.