In a scathing letter sent to the top management of Commerzbank, the U.S. investment company Cerberus berated the board of directors for ignoring growing problems at the bank, whose performance it described as “disastrous.” Happily for journalists everywhere, the letter mysteriously appeared on the desks of several media outlets, which is how we know that Cerebrus warned that “the window of opportunity to address the challenges faced by Commerzbank is rapidly closing.” Suddeutsche Zeitung’s headline for the article in which it described the bombshell letter read: “Nearly every sentence is a slap in the face”. Cerebrus, which bought 5 percent of Commerzbank’s shares in 2017, demanded two seats on the supervisory board. The bank has had to backtrack on plans to pay out a dividend for 2019 and reneged on plans to sell off its Polish outlet mBank. Cerberus bought a 3 percent stake in Deutsche Bank following its investment in Commerzbank and subsequently pushed (unsuccessfuly) for a merger of the two companies. It’s given Commerzbank until today to respond to its demands.
