German government sells first Commerzbank package to Unicredit

Italian banking group UniCredit has secured a stake in Commerzbank, the German government said on Wednesday.

The German state, which last week said it intended to gradually reduce its stake in the Commerzbank, sold a 4.49% of the bank's shares for around €702 million ($775 million) to Unicredit.

The Italians were prepared to pay more than the shares were worth on the stock exchange on Tuesday evening, the German Federal Finance Agency said in a statement. The entire package was allocated to Unicredit due to it "significantly outbidding" all other offers.

The allocation price was €13.20 per share, €0.06 more than the shares were worth at the close of trading on Tuesday.

The sale of just over 53 million shares reduces the German government's stake to 12%. The state remains Commerzbank's largest shareholder. Unicredit is now the bank's third-largest shareholder.

The Italian bank confirmed in a statement that it "acquired an equity stake equal to around 9% in the share capital of Commerzbank."

Number two with around 7% is the US asset manager Blackrock, which holds the shares via various funds and therefore has no strategic interest. Unicredit is represented in Germany by HVB.