MILAN (Sept 19): UniCredit was able to buy 4.5% of Commerzbank from the German state because the government trusts the Italian bank, its CEO said in a newspaper interview, ruling out any "aggressive" moves such as an unsolicited buyout bid.

UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel told Italian daily Il Messaggero on Thursday that his bank had been speaking with the German government for a while.

"This summer I've been back and forth between the seaside resort where my family was on holiday and Germany," he said.

"The German government has sold UniCredit a 4.5% stake in Commerzbank because it sees it as a reliable and suitable investor," he added.

Asked if UniCredit could launch an unsolicited tender offer to buy out other investors in Commerzbank, Orcel said: "No, it would be an aggressive move."

This month UniCredit emerged as the highest bidder in a government auction to sell 4.5% of Commerzbank. The Italian bank had already purchased a similar stake on the market and is currently the biggest private investor in Commerzbank.

In separate comments to German newspaper FAZ, Orcel said that 9% was "a significant but not an invasive stake. We could have made a full takeover offer, but we did not do that."

The outcome of the government tender has stirred controversy in Germany. Several people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters UniCredit's move had caught German government officials off guard.

"We were not unwelcome in this process," Orcel told FAZ. "If we had thought that we were not welcome — whether that is the case today remains to be seen — then we would not have pursued this approach. Because in such transactions the main players have to agree."

Orcel reiterated in the Il Messaggero interview that UniCredit was in no rush to raise its Commerzbank stake, though it plans to seek supervisory approval to buy up to 29.9% of the German rival.

UniCredit has said it could also just sell its Commerzbank stake.

"At the moment we are only a financial investor in Commerzbank. We could also sell the stake again and make a significant profit, because Commerzbank's share price has risen nicely," Orcel told FAZ.

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