Germany trims Commerzbank stake; CEO won't seek new term
CEO Knof won't seek new term after contract ends in Dec 2025
Government reducing stake to 12% from 16.5%
Updates with quote and background from paragraph 10 onwards
By Tom Sims
FRANKFURT, Sept 10 (Reuters) -Commerzbank's CBKG.DE chief executive officer Manfred Knof won't seek another term when his contract ends in December 2025, the bank said on Tuesday, as the German government began to sell some of its shares in the lender.
The two announcements, coming within minutes of each other, signal a new era for Germany's No. 2 lender.
The share sale was flagged last week, but the news about the CEO was a surprise.
Knof joined Commerzbank in 2021 and immediately put the bank through a radical overhaul, slashing thousands of jobs and hundreds of branches to restore profitability.
The German state has long held a 16.5% Commerzbank stake through its bank rescue fund after a bail-out 16 years ago during the financial crisis.
The bank's supervisory board chairman, Jens Weidmann, said he regretted Knof's decision but would begin the search for a successor.
The government said it was selling around 53 million shares in a placement directed at institutional investors and reducing its stake to 12% from 16.5%.
"Following the transaction, Federal Republic of Germany will remain Commerzbank’s largest shareholder," the government said.
But it has signalled that the sale is just a first step in a gradual sell-off of its holding.
Knof, a lawyer by training, joined Commerzbank after spending the bulk of his career at insurer Allianz before joining Deutsche Bank in 2019, where he was head of retail operations in Germany.
Prior to Knof's arrival, Commerzbank went through turbulent times, with on-and-off talks to merge with Deutsche Bank and then to sell a big Polish subsidiary.
An activist investor pressed for big changes, prompting the departure of Knof's predecessor and the bank's chairman.
During his tenure, Knof has played down prospects of a possible renewal of talks to merge with Deutsche, saying he was striving to keep the bank independent.
Commerzbank has returned to profit but executives have pointed to economic challenges ahead.
The bank's shares are up 17% so far this year but are far below the levels before the global financial crisis.
"I am proud to have successfully shaped this important path of the bank with the entire management team," Knof said.
"I used the summer break with my family to think hard about this step," he added.
Reporting by Tom Sims
Editing by Mark Potter
Aset Terkait
Berita Terbaru
Pengungkapan: Entitas XM Group menyediakan layanan khusus eksekusi dan akses ke Fasilitas Trading Online kami, yang memungkinkan Anda untuk melihat dan/atau menggunakan konten yang tersedia pada atau melalui situs, yang tidak untuk mengubah atau memperluas, serta tidak mengubah atau memperluas hal tersebut. Akses dan penggunaan ini selalu sesuai dengan: (i) Syarat dan Ketentuan; (ii) Peringatan Risiko; dan (iii) Pengungkapan Penuh. Oleh karena itu, konten disediakan hanya sebagai informasi umum. Anda juga harus ketahui bahwa konten Fasilitas Trading Online kami bukan sebagai ajakan atau tawaran untuk untuk melakukan transaksi apa pun di pasar finansial. Trading di pasar finansial mana pun melibatkan tingkat risiko yang signifikan pada modal Anda.
Semua materi yang diterbitkan di Fasilitas Trading Online kami hanya untuk tujuan edukasi/informasi dan tidak boleh mengandung nasihat dan rekomendasi finansial, pajak investasi atau trading, catatan harga trading kami, penawaran, permintaan, transaksi dalam instrumen finansial apa pun atau promo finansial untuk Anda yang tidak diminta.
Konten pihak ketiga apa pun, serta konten yang disiapkan oleh XM, seperti opini, berita, riset, analisis, harga, informasi lain atau link ke situs pihak ketiga yang tersedia "sebagaimana adanya", sebagai komentar pasar umum dan bukan menjadi nasihat investasi. Sejauh konten apa pun ditafsirkan sebagai penelitian investasi, Anda harus memperhatikan dan menerima bahwa konten tersebut tidak dimaksudkan dan belum disiapkan sesuai dengan persyaratan hukum yang dirancang untuk mempromosikan kemandirian riset investasi dan dengan demikian akan dianggap sebagai komunikasi pemasaran di bawah hukum dan peraturan yang relevan. Mohon dipastikan bahwa Anda telah membaca dan memahami Notifikasi pada Riset Investasi Non-Independen dan Peringatan Risiko kami mengenai informasi di atas, yang dapat diakses disini.
