New Commerzbank CEO expected to fight a potential UniCredit takeover

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Commerzbank on Tuesday announced its new chief executive would be Bettina Orlopp, who is expected to fight a possible takeover of the German bank by Italy’s UniCredit.

Orlopp, currently Commerzbank’s chief financial officer, will succeed existing chief executive Manfred Knof “in the near future”, Germany’s second-largest listed lender said.

Earlier this month, Commerzbank said Knof would not seek another term after his contract expired at the end of 2025.

People familiar with Orlopp’s thinking told the Financial Times she was not supportive of a tie-up with UniCredit, which has positioned itself to become Commerzbank’s largest shareholder with a 21 per cent stake, depending on it obtaining regulatory approval. UniCredit currently has a 9 per cent stake.

Key arguments against a UniCredit takeover are that a change in control could undermine Commerzbank’s lending to the German small and medium-sized companies that form the backbone of the country’s economy and that integrating the two companies could take years, the people familiar with Orlopp’s thinking added.

The German government has already voiced opposition to a UniCredit acquisition.

In a statement on Tuesday night, Orlopp, a former McKinsey partner who joined Commerzbank a decade ago, acknowledged it was facing a “significant task” but vowed to “navigate through the challenges ahead of us successfully”.

She will remain chief financial officer until a successor has been found. Michael Kotzbauer, head of Commerzbank’s corporate client unit, who is said to share Orlopp’s concerns about a UniCredit takeover, was named deputy chief executive.

“We have found an ideal successor,” Commerzbank chair Jens Weidmann said, adding Orlopp and Kotzbauer were the “co-architects” of the bank’s strategy until 2027.

UniCredit’s potential takeover escalated on Monday when it announced it had acquired a further 11.5 per cent of the German bank’s shares through derivatives positions. These will only be settled once the Italian lender receives the necessary regulatory approval to raise its stake above 10 per cent.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz lashed out against UniCredit, saying that “unfriendly attacks [and] hostile takeovers are not a good thing for banks and that is why the German government has clearly positioned itself”.

UniCredit said on Monday it was keeping its options open and might either keep its 9 per cent stake in Commerzbank, sell it or increase it further.

“This will depend on the outcome of engagement with Commerzbank, its management and supervisory boards as well as its wider stakeholders in Germany.”

People close to Commerzbank expect that a full takeover and merger with UniCredit’s German subsidiary HypoVereinsbank is the Italian bank’s preferred scenario.

Knof joined Commerzbank in 2021 from Deutsche Bank after an acrimonious boardroom battle that resulted in both the chair and chief executive resigning.

He embarked on cost cutting at Commerzbank, axing 10,000 jobs in Germany and closing half of the lender’s branches.

Commerzbank’s share price tripled as it increased its dividends and started the first share buybacks in the bank’s 154-year history.