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Change Your Life! |
Commerzbank and Dresdner Bank planning merger |
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News |
June 28, 2000
FRANKFURT ( AP) - As Commerzbank and Dresdner Bank reportedly rush to decide by the end of July whether to merge, the head of Commerzbank's biggest shareholder said in a newspaper interview Tuesday he has reservations about an all-German combination.
The two banks are stepping up their talks to stem unease among employees who reportedly fear their jobs will be cut after a merger, according to a report in Boersen-Zeitung Tuesday. According to some media reports, some employees have already been looking for new jobs.
Dresdner Bank and Commerzbank, both based in Frankfurt, confirmed last week they were examining the possibility of some kind of cooperation, which could include a full-blown merger into Germany's second-largest bank, behind Deutsche Bank.
Commerzbank, Germany's fourth largest bank just behind Dresdner, has been the ongoing subject of takeover rumors as analysts say it lacks the weight to continue standing alone.
But Commerzbank's biggest shareholder Cobra, the German arm of Dutch investment group Rebon, which holds 17 percent of Commerzbank, could have reservations about a domestic merger, preferring a cross-border linkup.
A link between Commerzbank and a bank in another European country would be far more "attractive" than a merger between Commerzbank and Dresdner Bank, the head of Cobra told the Berliner Zeitung.
"In a purely inner German solution, I don't see any synergy effects that could be of benefit to clients, employees and shareholders," Hansgeorg Hofmann said.
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