Commerzbank CEO and workers rally to fend off UniCredit as investors meet

Written by Tom Sims, Matthias Inverrardi and Telman Plasvir

The CEO of Wiesbaden (Reuters) -CEO of Commerzbank, and hundreds of employees expressed its support for the independent German lender strategy with its shareholders on Thursday, which increased efforts to stave off the progress in Unicredit in Italy.

About 200 employees of Commerzbank gathered outside the annual shareholder meeting, holding signs saying “strong and independent” and “No to Unicredit”.

“We are focusing on ourselves and our independent strategy,” Betina Uloop, CEO of Commerzbank told Reuters before the start of the meeting.

“We do not need continuous intervention from abroad,” she added.

Unicredit, with a share of about 10 %, is the second largest contributor to COMMERZBANK after the German government. A boost began to integrate the potential bank of Europe last year, leaving the institutional and political establishment in Germany.

The Unicardit Authority has rapidly concerned the employees as well as the Commerzbank administration and senior German government officials.

Kevin Foss, the leader of the Verdi Union, said he feared discounts in huge jobs in case of acquisition.

The CEO of Unicredit Andrea Orzel has become a test of Germany’s intention to hunt foreign suitor and prevent its financial position in Frankfurt from the loss of one of the remaining major commercial banks.

Unicredit refused to comment on the protests and how to vote at the shareholders meeting.

On Thursday, the senior shareholders who speak on Thursday supported the Commerzbank strategy and did not openly call for conversations with Unicredit.

But Hindrik Schmidt from the DWS Fund manager said that the cooperation “should not be taboo.”

Alexandra Aniki, with the Fund manager Union Investment, said that a higher assessment in Commerzbank can help her secure “more strategic options.”

Last week, Commerzbank reported that net profit increased by approximately 12 % in the first quarter, overcoming expectations despite the strong challenges of the German economy.

Andreas Tomai, from Deca Investment, praised at Commerzbank for steps to increase profits and warned that the acquisition of unicredit should not happen “at any cost.”

Klaus Nedge of the DSW shareholder group said he was against the seizure.

“It rarely pushed the huge purple to American shareholders in the past,” he said.

(Additional reports by Timm Reichert; Edited by Friedrich Hayne, Emilia Sitol Matris and Thomas Ganeovsky)