The German government has started an internal probe into its Commerzbank AG share sale after the transaction allowed UniCredit SpA to swoop in and take a major stake in the lender.
The Chancellery isn’t happy with the outcome of the placement last week, which was overseen by Germany’s Finance Agency, and it’s now trying to figure out what went wrong, people familiar with the matter said. It’s looking at the sequence of events leading up to the share sale and why no one involved seemed to anticipate the possibility of a strategic investor buying the entire 4.5% tranche of Commerzbank stock.