Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft: Commerzbank acquires comdirect equity stake and holds more than 90 percent of comdirect

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft (CZB) 
Commerzbank acquires comdirect equity stake and holds more than 90 percent 
of comdirect 
 
03-Jan-2020 / 10:03 CET/CEST 
Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement, transmitted by EQS Group. 
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. 
 
· *Commerzbank acquires a block of comdirect shares from Petrus Advisers * 
 
· *Investment threshold of more than 90 percent for comdirect squeeze-out 
under merger law reached* 
 
· *Zielke: 'Important step to quickly and efficiently execute the 
integration of our successful direct banking subsidiary'* 
 
Commerzbank AG will acquire an equity stake in comdirect bank 
Aktiengesellschaft ('comdirect') from institutional investor Petrus Advisers 
Ltd. through its subsidiary Commerzbank Inlandsbanken Holding GmbH. The 
purchase price has not been disclosed. 
 
Once the transaction has been completed, Commerzbank will hold more than 90 
percent of the shares of comdirect. Meaning that Commerzbank has reached the 
required investment threshold for the merger of comdirect into Commerzbank 
by means of a squeeze-out under merger law. In the course of the targeted 
squeeze-out, comdirect shareholders will receive a cash compensation for 
their shares. 'With the increase of our comdirect stake, we have laid the 
basis for a swift merger of comdirect into Commerzbank. This is an important 
step to quickly and efficiently execute the integration of our successful 
direct banking subsidiary and realise significant synergies. This is a key 
component of our Commerzbank 5.0 strategy. With our strong multi-channel 
bank we will offer comdirect's excellent brokerage services to all 
Commerzbank customers,' says Martin Zielke, Chairman of the Board of 
Managing Directors of Commerzbank. 
 
By integrating comdirect, Commerzbank aims to draw on comdirect's strong 
digital expertise and innovative capability for the benefit of all Group 
customers in future. The integration will also give comdirect the 
opportunity to scale up its offering through Commerzbank. For the customers 
of comdirect, the usual product and service quality should be maintained and 
in the future they will also benefit from Commerzbank's branch presence. In 
addition to the strategic advantages of a merger, Commerzbank will realise 
significant synergy potential as a result of the integration. 
 
***** 
 
*Press contact* 
Nils Happich [phone] 
Maximilian Bicker [phone] 
 
***** 
 
*About Commerzbank* 
Commerzbank is a leading international commercial bank with branches and 
offices in nearly 50 countries. The Bank's two business segments - Private 
and Small-Business Customers and Corporate Clients - offer a comprehensive 
portfolio of financial services precisely tailored to their customers' 
needs. Commerzbank transacts approximately 30% of Germany's foreign trade 
and is the market leader in German corporate banking. The Bank offers its 
sector expertise to its corporate clients in Germany and abroad and is a 
leading provider of capital market products. Its subsidiaries, comdirect in 
Germany and mBank in Poland, are two of the world's most innovative online 
banks. With approximately 800 branches going forward, Commerzbank has one of 
the densest branch networks in Germany. The Bank serves more than 11 million 
private and small-business customers nationwide and over 70,000 corporate 
clients, multinationals, financial service providers, and institutional 
clients worldwide. Its Polish subsidiary mBank S.A. has around 5.6 million 
private and corporate customers, predominantly in Poland, but also in the 
Czech Republic and Slovakia. In 2018, Commerzbank generated gross revenues 
of EUR 8.6 billion with approximately 49,000 employees. 
 
***** 
*Disclaimer and Forward-Looking Statement* 
 
This release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements 
are statements that are not historical facts. In this release, these 
statements concern inter alia the expected future business of Commerzbank, 
efficiency gains and expected synergies, expected growth prospects and other 
opportunities for an increase in value of Commerzbank as well as expected 
future financial results, restructuring costs and other financial 
developments and information. These forward-looking statements are based on 
the management's current plans, expectations, estimates and projections. 
They are subject to a number of assumptions and involve known and unknown 
risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results and 
developments to differ materially from any future results and developments 
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors 
include the conditions in the financial markets in Germany, in Europe, in 
the USA and other regions from which Commerzbank derives a substantial 
portion of its revenues and in which Commerzbank holds a substantial portion 
of its assets, the development of asset prices and market volatility, 
especially due to the ongoing European debt crisis, potential defaults of 
borrowers or trading counterparties, the implementation of its strategic 
initiatives to improve its business model, the reliability of its risk 
management policies, procedures and methods, risks arising as a result of 
regulatory change and other risks. Forward-looking statements therefore 
speak only as of the date they are made. Commerzbank has no obligation to 
update or release any revisions to the forward-looking statements contained 
in this release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this 
release. 
 
ISIN:          DE000CBK1001 
Category Code: MSCU 
TIDM:          CZB 
LEI Code:      851WYGNLUQLFZBSYGB56 
Sequence No.:  38422 
EQS News ID:   946229 
 
End of Announcement EQS News Service 
 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 03, 2020 04:03 ET (09:03 GMT)