By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Italian bank UniCredit has sought EU antitrust approval for its takeover of German peer Commerzbank, with regulators setting a November 16 deadline for their decision, according to a European Commission filing on Friday.
The deal underscores Italian banks’ recent appetite for consolidation, with regulators backing cross-border mergers to create European champions. The German government owns 13.3% of Commerzbank. UniCredit has already secured nearly half of Commerzbank’s share capital.
The Commission, which is the EU competition enforcer, can either clear the deal with or without concessions during its preliminary review, or it can open a full-scale investigation if it has serious concerns.
The European Central Bank was leaning towards approving the takeover, Reuters reported in August.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Joe Bavier)
