Finance
Germany Wrong-Footed by Shock UniCredit Move on Commerzbank
- Purchase means UniCredit owns almost as much of bank as Berlin
- Italy’s Meloni was tipped off about purchase in recent days
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UniCredit SpA’s shock move on Commerzbank AG caught Germany’s government off guard and puts Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a bind.
Berlin had no advance warning that UniCredit would swoop when it offered a tranche of Commerzbank shares for sale on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the process. The purchase leaves officials in an unexpected position in which UniCredit, with 9%, owns almost as much of Commerzbank as Germany does, and it could become the biggest shareholder when more stock is offered.