Commerzbank, UniCredit to meet virtually early on Friday, source says

By Tom Sims

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -A meeting between Commerzbank (ETR:) and UniCredit on Friday will be held virtually in the morning, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The meeting is a first round of talks between the two banks as the Italian lender presses for a possible tie-up and Commerzbank hones its defence.

It was not immediately clear which executives from the banks would meet on Friday although insiders have said UniCredit’s chief Andrea Orcel would not be there.

Orlopp told a financial conference in London on Thursday that the two banks would meet to “exchange views” now that UniCredit was a shareholder.

It is a first encounter between the Germany and Italy’s No. 2 bank since UniCredit earlier this month revealed it had bought a 9% stake in Commerzbank, said it planned to buy more shares and pressed for discussions to explore a tie-up.