The federal government reacted coolly to the new data on Italian lender UniCredit's stake in Frankfurt-based Commerzbank. "The federal government will continue to act in the interests of Commerzbank employees, German small and mid-sized businesses, and the financial hub of Frankfurt," a spokesperson for the SPD-led Finance Ministry said on Wednesday. "From the federal government's perspective, UniCredit's aggressive and hostile approach remains unacceptable."

The Milan-based lender had previously announced that, through an exchange offer, it had secured up to 47.6% of the shares and 49.65% of the voting rights in Commerzbank. Commerzbank's management, however, has voiced doubts about how the acceptance rate for the economically barely attractive offer came about.

The Finance Ministry spokesperson added that the government was taking note of the latest reports. "The federal government's relevant interministerial steering committee rejected UniCredit's offer and did not sell the federal government's stake in Commerzbank. The federal government also sees no reason to change this position." The federal government holds twelve percent of Commerzbank, making it the second-largest shareholder. It remains the task of the independent supervisory authorities BaFin and the ECB to review any further steps on a case-by-case basis, the Finance Ministry spokesperson said.

(Reporting by Christian Krämer, edited by Philipp Krach. For questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and macroeconomics) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)