Monday, January 10, 2022
Missing the merger’s goal?
Cerberus ends banking adventure
For a long time there has been speculation as to whether Cerberus is aiming for the merger of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank. In the dispute with the shareholder, the Coba tip even throws in the towel. Now the investor is also withdrawing – probably with losses.
After a good four years, the financial investor Cerberus is apparently calling for a withdrawal from the major German banks. Cerberus throws large parts of its 2017 block of shares in Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank onto the market overnight, as the investment bank entrusted with the transaction announced. Cerberus currently holds around three percent in Deutsche Bank and five percent in Commerzbank. With the placement, which could bring the investor around 450 million euros overnight, he wants to reduce his Deutsche Bank stake to two percent and that in Commerzbank to three percent.
That should not be the last step: According to the commissioned bank, Cerberus only sets a period of 45 days, during which it does not want to throw any further blocks of shares from either bank on the market. Holding periods of at least three months are normal. The almost simultaneous entry of Cerberus into Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank had repeatedly caused speculation about mergers. According to media reports, Cerberus recently supported the efforts of the federal government to merge the two banks, which the board members quickly abandoned.
According to “Handelsblatt”, the investor was also considering taking over the state’s share of a good 15 percent in Commerzbank in the autumn. In the summer of 2020, CEO Martin Zielke and Supervisory Board chairman Stefan Schmittmann threw in the towel in the dispute with Cerberus and plunged Commerzbank into a leadership crisis.
With the partial exit, Cerberus should accept losses. At the time of entry, Deutsche Bank shares cost more than the 12.37 euros with which the paper went out of trading on Monday. Commerzbank shares, which closed at 7.70 euros, were also worth significantly more in 2017. According to bankers, around 21 million Deutsche Bank shares are to be sold for a minimum price of 12.06 euros and 25.3 million Commerzbank papers for at least 7.46 euros.