Chapter 868: European Union Bank

Also, Natixis Bank finally reached a final agreement with the German government on the acquisition of Commerzbank shares.

Natixis Bank will acquire 25% of Commerzbank shares held by the German government for 2.5 billion euros. Compared with the shares obtained by the German government in 2009 with an injection of 1.8 billion euros, Commerzbank also provided corresponding funds when it acquired Dresdner Bank.

However, Natixis Bank's offer is about 15% higher than the share price of Commerzbank before their acquisition. For the German government, it is also a very cost-effective deal, making their investment close to 30% profitable.

However, although the completion of this transaction has made Natixis Bank's shareholding in Commerzbank reach 34%, becoming the controlling shareholder of Commerzbank, the management of Natixis Bank has also promised the German government that it will repay the debt borrowed by Commerzbank from the German government as soon as possible.

And if the acquisition of Commerzbank is finally continued, Commerzbank's business cannot be significantly reduced. In other words, large-scale layoffs cannot occur.

After all, under the current situation, this situation is not what the German government wants to happen.

At present, with the shares held by DS Group, Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch and William-Weber Capital, Barron's control of Commerzbank's shares is close to 50%, which is completely capable of promoting Natixis Bank's overall acquisition of Commerzbank - that is, the merger plan between Natixis Bank and Commerzbank.

After completing the acquisition of Commerzbank's shares held by the German government, at the request of Natixis Bank, Commerzbank held a board meeting. At this board meeting, Commerzbank adjusted its board of directors, with Natixis Bank President Lagarde serving as Commerzbank's chairman and Ashley Weber serving as Commerzbank's executive director.

And at this board meeting, the merger plan between Natixis Bank and Commerzbank was approved.

The merger of the two parties will be carried out by Natixis Bank paying cash or issuing additional shares to the remaining shareholders of Commerzbank.

At present, the share price of Commerzbank is around 8 euros per share. Other shareholders of Commerzbank can choose to exchange each Commerzbank share held for 8.4 euros in cash, or exchange it for Natixis Bank shares at a ratio of 1:1.25.

The current share price of Natixis Bank is around 6.7 euros, which was the price when both Natixis Bank and Commerzbank were suspended before the announcement of the upcoming merger. Because the market itself had some speculation about this, both stocks had risen to a certain extent before that, with an increase of more than 10%. In comparison, the increase in Commerzbank's share price was higher.

Therefore, whether to choose cash or exchange shares depends on whether Commerzbank shareholders have confidence in its future development.

After 7 days, it will be the deadline for Commerzbank shareholders to choose, and then the two parties will complete the merger.

In the end, about 70% of Commerzbank shareholders outside Natixis Bank chose to exchange shares.

According to the previous plan, Natixis's partner in this merger, Merrill Lynch Investment, under Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch Group, will pay Commerzbank shareholders who choose cash compensation and receive the corresponding exchange amount.

Therefore, Merrill Lynch Investment took out about 1.98 billion euros and obtained 294.75 million additional Natixis Bank shares. Together with the approximately 59.52 million Commerzbank shares previously held by Merrill Lynch Investment, it can be exchanged for 74.4 million Natixis Bank shares...

In this way, Merrill Lynch Investment can obtain a total of 3ixis Bank shares.

After the two parties complete the merger, Natixis Bank will be renamed Continental United Bank (CUB), with a total share capital of 3.236 billion shares.

The Natixis Bank shares originally traded on the Paris Stock Exchange will be changed to Continental United Bank shares at a ratio of 1:1 after reopening.

The shares of Commerzbank, which were originally listed and traded on various German exchanges, as well as in Paris, New York, Vienna, Geneva, Basle, Amsterdam, London, Luxembourg, Antwerp and Brussels, will be changed to shares of Eurobank at a ratio of 1:1.25 after the opening.

After the merger of the two banks, William Weber Capital will hold 1.5444 billion shares, and its shareholding ratio in Eurobank will still exceed 47.7%!

Therefore, William Weber Capital is still the controlling party of Eurobank, Ashley Weber will serve as the chairman of Eurobank, and Lagarde will serve as the president of Eurobank.

Merrill Lynch Investment holds 369.15 million shares of Eurobank, accounting for 11.4%, and is the second largest shareholder of Eurobank.

In addition, DS Group also holds approximately 77.4 million shares of Eurobank, accounting for approximately 2.3%...

In this way, Barron's control of the shares in Continental Bank still exceeds 61%, although on the surface this bank still has a large number of French and German shareholders...

At the end of September, after the resumption of trading on various stock exchanges, Continental United Bank's stock price increased significantly, from 6.7 euros at the time of suspension to 7 euros!

This brings the total market value of Continental Bank to close to 23 billion euros, which makes it not far away from the market value of Germany's largest bank Deutsche Bank - you know, due to frequent accusations and fines, Deutsche Bank started from 2012 In the first 10 years, the stock price will fall by more than 70%, so it is believed that Continental Bank will soon surpass Deutsche Bank and become the bank with the highest market capitalization in Germany.

As for France, unfortunately, even after this merger, Continental Bank is still far lower than Société Générale in market value, and it is still the third largest bank in France.

No matter what, both Barron and Ashley Weber are very happy about the success of this acquisition of Commerzbank. This means that their financial tentacles have entered another core country of the European Union - —In Germany.

However, Ashley is now due to give birth in more than two months, so she did not go to Germany again. Instead, Lagarde, the president of Continental Bank, sat in Frankfurt, Germany, to carry out the merger of the two banks. Sort and straighten.

"After the merger between Natixis Bank and Commerzbank, there is a lot of work to be done. Although the two banks have some overlap in business, the two sides are more complementary. I am very optimistic about the future development of Continental Bank..."

In a German financial talk show, Lagarde's style remained undiminished. She said:

"Eurohypo, owned by Commerzbank, is still the best real estate bank in Europe. Although it has been affected to a certain extent in the previous crisis, we will optimize the assets in the German market and are optimistic about the recovery of the real estate industry..."

"Then you mean to consider selling some of the original non-performing assets of Commerzbank? Ms. Lagarde."

"We will focus on the main business. A certain amount of downsizing is necessary to allow us to concentrate resources and obtain higher profit expectations. We have seen some British banks, such as Standard Chartered Bank, being sold after the subprime mortgage crisis. By removing some non-performing assets, we have not only obtained liquidity supplements, but also reduced their burdens. Most of these banks are now performing well. I think this approach is worth considering. "