Commerzbank AG (CRZBY)

[Enterprising Investor]

Germany Looks Abroad to Unload Commerzbank-Report (7/13/13)

By Todd Buell
FRANKFURT--Germany is looking outside the country, including to Swiss bank UBS AG (UBS, UBSN.VX), to find a buyer for its remaining share of Commerzbank AG (CRZBY, CBK.XE), a German news magazine reports Saturday.

The publication FOCUS reports that German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has spoken with UBS's Chairman Axel Weber about a possible acquisition of Germany's second-largest lender. Mr. Weber used to head Germany's central bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank. FOCUS did not say where it acquired its information.

Neither Commerzbank nor UBS would comment when contacted by The Wall Street Journal. The German Finance Ministry was not immediately available for comment. FOCUS quoted the ministry as saying that though the government intended to limit its time as a shareholder of Commerzbank to as short a time as possible, it was "not foreseeable" when it would unload its remaining shares.

Germany became a shareholder of Commerzbank as part of a rescue operation in early 2009, in the wake of the market turbulence which followed the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers.

Following a capital hike earlier this year, the government's share in the bank fell from 25% to 17%.

-Alexandra Edinger and John Revill contributed to this report

Write to Todd Buell at [e-mail]; Twitter: @ToddBuell

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20130713-701992.html?mod=WSJ_qtoverview_wsjlatest