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Germany’s new finance minister on Tuesday scolded UniCredit for the way the Italian bank had bought a major stake in Germany’s second-largest lender Commerzbank.
“Aggressively taking a stake in a systemically important bank like Commerzbank using unfriendly methods and without cooperation is not an appropriate course of action,” Joerg Kukies said at an event hosted by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily.
“Hostile takeovers are not what we need for stable banks in Europe and in Germany,” added the minister, himself a former executive with investment bank Goldman Sachs in Germany.
Kukies spoke days after being appointed to the post by Olaf Scholz after the chancellor last week fired his predecessor, Christian Lindner.
Lindner’s exit brought the ruling coalition crashing down as his liberal FDP party then withdrew from the Scholz’s three-party alliance.
The dramatic turn of events means Germany is now set to hold a snap general election slated for February 23.
Kukies, a member of Scholz’s Social Democrats, confirmed the current government’s position on a takeover and indicated the line the chancellor’s party might take going into the election.
UniCredit surprised both markets and the government in September when it announced it had built a significant stake in Commerzbank, fuelling speculation of a takeover bid.
The approach sparked anger in Germany, with unions fearful it could lead to job losses and politicians — led by Scholz — speaking out against a merger.
UniCredit’s CEO Andrea Orcel said last week there would be no decision on a possible takeover for at least a year, warning that the process “will take some time”.
One hurdle for UniCredit is the German government’s own remaining stake in Commerzbank, which stands at around 12 percent.
Berlin took the stake when it bailed out Commerzbank in 2008 during the global financial crisis.
UniCredit itself bought 4.5 percent of its Commerzbank stake directly from the German government, as officials looked to finally sell off their stake in the lender.
But the German government has said it would not sell any further shares for the time being, after UniCredit’s increased the size of its stake.