FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - What is the next move in the takeover battle for Commerzbank? Under pressure from Italy's UniCredit, the DAX-listed group is set to unveil new financial targets through 2030 this Friday (7:00 AM) - potentially including further job cuts.
While this plan was already in the works before UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel presented a restructuring proposal in the event of a takeover and subsequently formalized his bid for all Commerzbank shares earlier this week, the pressure from the Milan-based major shareholder has intensified further.
Commerzbank is also scheduled to release its first-quarter interim results on Friday. Analysts expect the Frankfurt-based lender to have outperformed the previous year, with projected earnings of over 1.3 billion euros before tax and a net profit of 868 million euros. A year ago, the bank reported a profit of 834 million euros, its best quarterly result since early 2011.
For UniCredit, 2026 began with a record surplus: the Italian banking giant reported the highest quarterly profit in its history at 3.2 billion euros.
In the full year 2025, despite high costs associated with the ongoing reduction of nearly 4,000 positions, Commerzbank's bottom line of over 2.6 billion euros narrowly missed its 2024 record profit, which stood at 2.7 billion euros at the time./ben/DP/jha
