UniCredit Buys 4.5% Stake in Commerzbank From German Government

UniCredit SpA has bought the 4.49% stake that the German government has sold in Commerzbank AG, making the Italian lender a major investor.

UniCredit is paying €13.20 ($14.57) per share for the roughly 53.1 million shares, generating proceeds of €702 million for Germany, the country’s Finance Agency said in a statement on Wednesday. The Italian bank’s offer for the stake was a “significant outbid” of everyone else, it said.

The move turns UniCredit into Commerzbank’s third-largest shareholder, with Germany still owning 12% and asset manager BlackRock Inc. about 7.2%.

UniCredit had previously considered buying Commerzbank, Bloomberg has reported ...