Commerzbank moves to end its reliance on state support
COMMERZBANK will move quickly to end its use of state support, chief executive Martin Blessing said yesterday at a bankers’ conference in Frankfurt.
He said the bank would stop issuing bonds backed by state guarantees and added that the lender would move to pay back Berlin’s 25 per cent equity stake by 2012 at the latest.
The bank has a facility to issue up to €15bn (£13bn) worth of state-backed bonds but will only use €5bn of the total, returning the rest. It has taken about €18.2bn in state aid as well as the bond guarantee.
Blessing added that Commerzbank was working on bonus system for top earners that would link pay to long-term performance and could include clawbacks.
Separately, Commerzbank confirmed yesterday that it is selling its remaining five per cent stake in German engineering firm GEA.
The bank said it had successfully placed its 9.2m shares in GEA, worth €115.9m, or €12.6 per share, a discount to GEA’s Tuesday closing price of 1.4 per cent.
UBS Investment Bank and Commerzbank acted as joint bookrunners on the placing.