By Valentina Za
MILAN, June 2 (Reuters) - Italian bank UniCredit has increased its direct stake in Commerzbank to 34.4%, it said on Tuesday, under the takeover bid it launched on May 5 amid widespread hostility in Germany.
* Investors have tendered Commerzbank shares representing 7.6% of the Frankfurt-based bank's capital as of Tuesday, according to data UniCredit publishes weekly under German takeover rules.
* The bid runs until June 16 and it is currently at a discount to market prices. Institutional
investors typically wait with their decision until the last few days of the tender period.
* UniCredit has said its voluntary exchange offer was intended to nudge its 27% Commerzbank stake just above the mandatory takeover threshold of 30%, allowing the Italian bank to buy more Commerzbank shares on the market later.
* In addition to its direct stake, UniCredit holds derivatives on 16.4% of Commerzbank's share capital, but most of those can only be settled in cash, which the bank said gave it the option to lower its final stake if needed.
Including some share-settled derivatives, UniCredit's Commerzbank holding stands at 37.6%.
* UniCredit Chief Executive Andrea Orcel, a veteran investment banker, is under pressure to clinch a deal after he put the brakes on various previous takeover attempts since becoming CEO in 2021.
* He has pledged to meet certain financial return criteria which require UniCredit to avoid a situation where regulators declare it in control of Commerzbank without majority ownership.
* The Italian bank is offering 0.458 new UniCredit shares for each Commerzbank share tendered. Based on Monday's closing price of €73.72 per UniCredit share, the bid values Commerzbank at €35.75 a share - below Monday's closing price of €37.
* "UniCredit has met the objective ... of exceeding 30% to ensure certainty with regards to its stake and create optionality following the offer to acquire further shares, as and when the opportunity arises," it said.
(Additional reporting by Friedrike Heine; editing by Gianluca Semeraro, Gavin Jones and Tomasz Janowski)
