Commerzbank has signed a deal to increase its stake in comdirect bank Aktiengesellschaft, a German direct bank, to more than 90% by buying a block of shares from institutional investor Petrus Advisers.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Commerzbank will acquire the additional stake through its subsidiary Commerzbank Inlandsbanken. After closing of the transaction, the German bank will reach the necessary investment threshold for the full takeover of comdirect through a squeeze-out under merger law.
During the targeted squeeze-out, shareholders of the German direct bank will get compensation for their shares in the form of cash, said Commerzbank.
Commerzbank’s management comments on the potential merger with comdirect
Commerzbank managing directors board chairman Martin Zielke said: “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.”
Established in 1994, comdirect served over 2.7 million customers as of September 2019 enabling them to handle their banking transactions irrespective of the time and place.
The direct bank doubles up as an online broker providing solutions for saving, investing and trading with securities. Its products include the robo-advisor cominvest, motif investing, and a variety of securities services.
Commerzbank, through the integration of the online bank into its fold, aims to leverage the latter’s digital expertise and innovative capability to benefit all group customers in the long run. Furthermore, the direct bank, following the integration, is said to get the opportunity to scale up its offering through Commerzbank.
For comdirect’s customers, the usual product and service quality offered by the direct bank will be sustained, and in the future could benefit from Commerzbank’s branch footprint.
Commerzbank also expects to achieve significant synergy potential through the merger with the German online bank.
Headquartered in Frankfurt, Commerzbank is a commercial bank that maintains branches and offices in about 50 countries.
