UniCredit $UCG reaches 47.6% Commerzbank $CBK stake after €44B bid

UniCredit $UCG has secured a 47.6% stake in Commerzbank $CBK, according to Financial Times reporting on July 8. The stake combines UniCredit’s previous position of close to 30% with 17.6% of shares tendered by investors into its €44B takeover offer.

The number matters because it places UniCredit just below the 50% threshold for formal control while giving chief executive Andrea Orcel a position that can carry de facto influence if shareholder-meeting attendance remains low. FT said the acceptance level was above analyst expectations, turning a contested bid into a near-control position rather than a symbolic minority holding.

This clears the Tier-1 M&A threshold by a wide margin. Commerzbank is Germany’s second-largest lender, and a cross-border combination with UniCredit would reshape European banking scale, capital allocation, and cost-cutting assumptions. The transaction also has a regulatory dimension because the German government owns roughly 13% of Commerzbank and employee representatives have challenged parts of the process.

The next checkpoints are regulatory approval, Berlin’s stance, Commerzbank’s legal complaints, and the terms of any reopened or extended offer period. FT reported that Orcel has said a full merger could take 18 to 24 months. Investors now have to separate the market value of the 47.6% stake from the execution risk of converting it into operational control.

Not investment advice. Verify all figures with primary sources before acting.