Commerzbank AG will acquire an equity stake in comdirect bank Aktiengesellschaft ("comdirect") from institutional investor Petrus Advisers Ltd. through its subsidiary Commerzbank Inlandsbanken Holding GmbH. The purchase price has not been disclosed.

Once the transaction has been completed, Commerzbank will hold more than 90 percent of the shares of comdirect. Meaning that Commerzbank has reached the required investment threshold for the merger of comdirect into Commerzbank by means of a squeeze-out under merger law. In the course of the targeted squeeze-out, comdirect shareholders will receive a cash compensation for their shares. “With the increase of our comdirect stake, we have laid the basis for a swift merger of comdirect into Commerzbank. This is an important step to quickly and efficiently execute the integration of our successful direct banking subsidiary and realise significant synergies. This is a key component of our Commerzbank 5.0 strategy. With our strong multi-channel bank we will offer comdirect’s excellent brokerage services to all Commerzbank customers,” says Martin Zielke, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of Commerzbank.

By integrating comdirect, Commerzbank aims to draw on comdirect’s strong digital expertise and innovative capability for the benefit of all Group customers in future. The integration will also give comdirect the opportunity to scale up its offering through Commerzbank. For the customers of comdirect, the usual product and service quality should be maintained and in the future they will also benefit from Commerzbank's branch presence. In addition to the strategic advantages of a merger, Commerzbank will realise significant synergy potential as a result of the integration.