Freshfields and Hengeler Mueller have taken lead roles on UniCredit’s €35bn takeover bid for Commerzbank, an approach which has been met with resistance from the German bank.
Freshfields is advising Italy’s UniCredit, with global managing partner Rick van Aerssen leading the firm’s team alongside fellow Frankfurt corporate partner Sabrina Kulenkamp.
Elite German firm Hengeler is acting for Commerzbank, which has released a statement saying that the offer ‘has not been aligned with Commerzbank’ and ‘is not coordinated with us’, adding that ‘the exchange ratio expected in the announcement does in fact not include a premium for our shareholders.’
Hengeler’s team includes three corporate partners, Hartwin Bungert and Christian Strothotte in Duesseldorf and Daniela Favoccia in Frankfurt.
Bungert has a longstanding relationship with Commerzbank, having advised on the bank’s 2009 merger with Dresdner Bank, as well as on talks over a potential merger with Deutsche Bank a decade later.
Freshfields has worked with UniCredit on a number of matters in recent years, including advising the bank on the refinancing of a €350m credit facility for German-listed space and technology company OHB.
The role is a coup for Freshfields’ Germany team, which recently saw a number of senior departures, including a four-partner private equity team which quit to join Latham & Watkins last year.
The bid by UniCredit is an attempt to bring Commerzbank to the negotiating table by raising the Milan-based bank’s stake to the 30% threshold under German takeover law. UniCredit currently holds 26% in direct shares and a further 4% in swaps. The bank said that the move signals an ‘openness for dialogue’.
