By Tom Sims
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Commerzbank, which last week announced job cuts in Germany as it fends off a takeover approach from Italy’s UniCredit, has signed a 15-year rental contract for a new high-rise office in Frankfurt.
The German bank said the building will allow it to help consolidate staff scattered around Frankfurt next to its main headquarters in the city centre.
Its lease, as the sole tenant for 73,000 square metres over 52 floors, will provide 3,200 workplaces from the end of 2028 when construction of the building is completed.
Commerzbank, the nation’s No. 2 lender, is currently trying to ensure its future as an independent bank.
Its standalone strategy came into question last year when UniCredit shocked Germany’s corporate and political establishment by snapping up a hefty stake in Commerzbank, with the Italian bank’s CEO Andrea Orcel pressing for a tie-up in the most ambitious attempt yet at a pan-European bank merger.
Last week, Commerzbank announced plans to axe 3,900 jobs, mainly in Germany, to help it deliver more ambitious profit targets as it fended off the advance.
State lender Helaba, a big real-estate investor, will be Commerzbank’s new landlord. The deal is a piece of good news for the nation’s glutted office market, under stress from work-from-home policies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Commerzbank currently employs more than 7,000 people in the Frankfurt area. Its current headquarters, in Frankfurt’s tallest building, houses around 2,800 staff.
Among the many questions surrounding any merger with UniCredit is where in Germany the combined bank’s business would be centred. UniCredit’s German operations are based in Munich, while Commerzbank has long been in Germany’s financial capital of Frankfurt.
(Reporting by Tom Sims; Editing by Ludwig Burger and Jan Harvey)
