When UniCredit bought 9 per cent of Commerzbank this month, the Italian bank’s chief executive Andrea Orcel sought to reassure Berlin of his intentions by saying cross-border deals in the industry could not happen against the will of governments.

Outside its home market, any bank needed the “support from local institutions”, he said, noting UniCredit “always entertained a dialogue with regulators, institutions and counterparts in Germany”. 

That dialogue appears to have broken down. On Monday, UniCredit said it was about to overtake the German government as Commerzbank’s biggest shareholder with a 21 per cent stake after taking a position — pending regulatory approval — on a further 11.5 per cent of the German lender’s stock.

In New York that day, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “Unfriendly attacks [and] hostile takeovers are not a good thing for banks and that is why the German government has clearly positioned itself.”

What, if anything, can the German government, regulators and rival banks do to thwart Orcel’s ambitions to take over Commerzbank?

What can Germany do?

German politicians across the political spectrum have been united in their condemnation of what they perceive as Orcel’s aggressive tactics. But the government has few tools to block a takeover bid.

Berlin had already said on Friday that it would no longer put its remaining 12 per cent stake up for sale. Instead, Orcel found another way to increase UniCredit’s stake, through derivative instruments.

The German government’s powers to shoot down takeovers were strengthened after robotics maker Kuka was acquired in 2016 by Chinese group Midea in an acrimonious takeover that fostered fears of a sellout of engineering expertise. But outside of the defence industry, the rules apply only to buyers from non-EU members. 

UniCredit needs permission to lift its stake in Commerzbank above 10 per cent, but from its regulator, the European Central Bank, not Berlin.

Mechthilde Wittmann, an MP for the opposition CSU party, said Scholz should “take the next plane to Rome and tell [Italian prime minister Giorgia] Meloni that this takeover can’t happen. We won’t agree to it”.

Others, however, disagree. “I don’t see that the German authorities have any leverage,” said Hans-Peter Burghof, a banking expert at Hohenheim university.

“UniCredit is a European bank and so European rules on competition, bank supervision and capital markets apply. And the German authorities don’t really have any say in the matter.”

Ministers were within their rights to express their opinion on a possible takeover, as Scholz did on Monday, “but it’s just a description”, said Burghof. “Yes, it’s a hostile takeover . . . and they can express their annoyance, but little more than that.”

What can the ECB do?

The idea of a UniCredit merger with Commerzbank was initially welcomed within the ECB, which has long called for more cross-border consolidation in the sector.

But some at Europe’s top banking regulator are annoyed about what they regard as Orcel’s “aggressive” tactics, according to people familiar with their views.

European rules on bank ownership — designed to prevent criminals and shady funds from getting control of a bank — are complex and bureaucratic.

Joachim Kaetzler, banking partner at law firm CMS Hasche Sigle, described them as “an avalanche of documents”.

However, “reasons to reject the application [by UniCredit to take its stake above 10 per cent] are highly unlikely to arise”, said Kaetzler, because the Italian bank was one of Europe’s largest and most profitable lenders and its top-ranking officials had been approved by the ECB.

Under the application rules, the ECB is required to make a decision within 60 days but can add another 30 days in complicated cases.

With BaFin, Germany’s financial regulator, responsible for assembling the application to be submitted to the ECB, German bureaucrats in theory have scope to take a particularly rigorous approach — by requesting additional documents, for instance.

“An ownership-control procedure can easily take six to 12 months,” said Kaetzler.

What can other banks do?

Any bidder deemed preferable to UniCredit would have to secure support from the government.

The most obvious candidate is Deutsche Bank, which has discussed a move for Commerzbank several times before.

Such a deal would mean Commerzbank — a crucial lender to the Mittelstand, the small and medium companies that form the backbone of the German economy — remained in domestic hands.

However, it would result in a large number of job cuts and branch closures, which may be unpalatable to German voters and unions.

Deutsche is also not in the best position to buy Commerzbank, as it would have to pay in cash for shares owned by the government or in the open market.

Doing so would disrupt plans to return €8bn to shareholders by 2025, which Germany’s largest lender paused earlier this year after taking a €1.3bn hit from a long-running lawsuit.

Deutsche Bank boss Christian Sewing said this month he was unfazed about a potential takeover of Commerzbank by UniCredit. “Competition is good for business”, he added.

Other banks such as France’s BNP Paribas, Spain’s Santander and ING of the Netherlands could also be encouraged to make a bid. 

These banks do not have German operations of the size of UniCredit’s HypoVereinsbank, so such a combination would not benefit from the same synergies.

Entering a bidding war with a rival holding a 21 per cent stake is another complication.

What can Commerzbank do?

Orcel unveiled his initial move on Commerzbank hours after the German bank said its chief executive Manfred Knof would leave by the end of 2025.

Commerzbank on Tuesday evening appointed chief financial officer Bettina Orlopp as its new chief executive to champion the lender’s standalone strategy and rally investor support.

But even Commerzbank insiders who are sceptical about a deal acknowledge that it will be almost impossible to present a standalone strategy that is financially as attractive as a merger.

A combination with HypoVereinsbank would result in billions of euros of cost savings and economies of scale.

Commerzbank could come up with a poison pill to scupper the deal — for example by agreeing to sell its corporate bank to Deutsche Bank in exchange for a stake in the rival.

But people close to Commerzbank told the Financial Times that management “won’t do anything crazy” to derail a UniCredit bid if it came at the expense of the German lender’s franchise. 

The alternative may be to try to squeeze a generous takeover premium from Orcel, as well as guarantees to keep decision-making and a listing of the German operations in Frankfurt.

A MAJOR US fast food chain has confirmed the exact locations of its first UK restaurants, The Sun can reveal.

American fast food giant Chick-fil-A is crossing the pond and bringing its beloved chicken sandwiches to our high streets next year.

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The Sun can exclusively reveal the exact locations of their first five UK restaurants.

Chick-fil-A operates more than 3,000 sites across the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada.

As part of its UK-wide expansion, the fast food chain has confirmed that it will open two restaurants in Belfast and single sites in Leeds, Liverpool, and London.

The sites will open over two years starting in 2025, and Chick-fil-A has now opened applications for those wishing to take on a franchise.

The brand’s initial expansion into the UK will create approximately 400 new jobs.

Anita Costello, chief international officer at Chick-fil-A, Inc, told The Sun: “Serving communities is at the heart of everything we do, and we look forward to bringing Chick-fil-A’s delicious food and signature hospitality to Belfast, Leeds, Liverpool and London, and continuing our long-term investment in the U.K.

“From job creation to supporting local causes, we are excited about the positive impact our first restaurants will have in the communities they serve.”

We’ve already had a first taste of what will be on the menu when the first store opens next year.

Several signature items, including the chain’s most popular menu item, the original Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich, nuggets, and waffle fries, will be venturing across the pond.

The brand’s expansion into the UK will also bring tasty but unfamiliar options not commonly available in the UK, including savoury biscuits and ranch-flavoured dipping sauces.

Chick-fil-A’s UK-based restaurants plan to serve chicken sourced from the UK and Ireland, along with 100% free-range eggs from welfare-certified farms.

For now, eager fans of the chain will need to hold tight to find out exactly what will be served in its UK restaurants.

Ahead of its high street launch, The Sun visited the company’s headquarters in Atlanta to find out what the fuss is all about.

Chick-fil-A is a family-run business that operates a franchise-style system.

Anyone can apply to operate a restaurant, and applications for potential franchisees wishing to open a UK restaurant are now open.

However, Chick-fil-A’s model differs from other fast food chains we know in the UK – like McDonald’s, KFC or Burger King – as franchisees don’t own the sites themselves.

Franchisees – or operators, as they are known – run the businesses daily, but Chick-fil-A owns the rest, including the brick-and-mortar site.

This means the company owns the actual restaurant, while the franchisee operates the business on their behalf, resulting in a smaller outlay and less risk for operators.

In the US, the initial franchise agreement costs just $10,000 (£7,932), while a McDonald’s franchise typically costs between £350k and £1,85 million in the UK.

Chick-fil-A also only lets its operators run up to three stores, and the majority of them only run a single location.

With other fast food chains, you can run several at once and even build a mini-empire, though that requires significant investment.

Like in the US, each UK restaurant will be able to participate in Chick-fil-A’s Shared Table programme.

This initiative redirects surplus food from Chick-fil-A restaurants to local soup kitchens, shelters, food banks, and non-profits in need.

Joanna Symonds, head of UK operations, said: “We’ve always cared about the impact of our restaurants on the local communities that we serve, and we strive to positively impact areas throughout the UK”

US FAST FOOD EXPANSION INTO THE UK

Chick-fil-A is not the only US fast-food chain to have taken a leap across the pond in recent years.

In July, Dave’s Hot Chicken announced plans to open 60 restaurants across the UK and Ireland.

Popeyes entered the UK market in 2021 and has proved to be a hit with ravenous customers ever since.

In just 30 months, the brand opened over 38 restaurants across the UK.

It has plans to reach the 60-restaurant milestone by the end of 2024.

US burger chain Wendy’s, which already has 31 sites in the UK, will also cut the ribbon on eight new locations this year.

The chain returned to the UK high street in 2021 after a 20-year hiatus.

Wendy’s is most famous for its square-shaped hamburgers, designed to maximize the amount of meat in every bite.

Shake Shack, which started out as a hotdog cart, recently opened its first restaurant inside a UK train station.

Brits commuting in St. Pancras International Station can now grab their favourite burgers before jumping onto their train.

The new spot marks the fast food giant’s 16th location in the UK since it was launched in Covent Garden in 2013.

While most of Shake Shack’s UK sites are based in London, bosses have expanded into other locations in recent years, including Essex, Oxford, and Cardiff.

Shake Shack’s humble beginnings trace back to a New York hot dog cart helmed by Randy Garutti.

Wingstop currently operates 39 sites across the UK and will open 15 more in 2024.

Lemon Pepper Holdings, which runs the fast food chain’s UK portfolio, said the move would create up to 750 jobs.

The US hospitality brand said it is its biggest year of expansion since launching Wingstop in the UK six years ago.

Dunkin’ Donuts, which currently has 30 stores in the UK, hopes to open 30 new branches over the next couple of years as part of a major expansion plan.

Dunkin’ Donuts landed in the UK in St John’s in Liverpool in May 2016.

The chain is huge in the US, with almost 9,500 stores spread across the country.

It sells a range of doughnuts, other sweet treats, and hot and cold drinks.

A mixed grill

BRITAIN is not working and needs fundamental change. We heartily agree with Keir Starmer on that.

Millions do. Which is why he became PM in July.

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But while we applaud the early part of his conference speech — that people have lost faith in politics’ power to improve their lives — and the conclusion, where he promised to make us happier and richer, some of the meat in the sandwich was more dubious.

There was, though, plenty to savour.

We hugely welcome the Homes For Heroes pledge to put veterans at the top of social housing lists nationwide.

Sir Keir’s confirmation of a huge home-building programme was music to our ears.

So too the acceptance that migration is too high and we must get more young people into those jobs instead.

And the vow to cut the welfare bill.

We are far less convinced by his vehicles for change: Ed Miliband’s ruinous folly “GB Energy”.

Nationalised trains.

A “wealth fund” for a nation with an alleged £22billion black hole.

Huge pay rises and sweeping powers for unions.

These are “solutions” based on Labour ideology.

Britain needs genuine realism about the challenges of the future.

It is disingenuous to blame “14 years of chaos” on the Tories without mentioning the global crash, Covid or war.

And claiming they “served themselves” is ill-advised given Labour’s freebies scandal.

Meanwhile “stabilising the economy” by robbing OAPs is a terrible error.

And while Sir Keir earned ovations for rightly standing up to far-right racist thugs, what did he say about anti-Semitic pro-Hamas thugs on our streets?

Not a sausage.

Lynch mob

SURRENDER to the unions and they simply come back for more.

Aslef and the BMA rapidly secured mind-boggling pay rises from Labour.

Now the RMT’s Mick Lynch wants nothing less than “the complete organisation of the UK economy by trade unions”.

The 1970s were a bleak, violent decade of economic collapse, endless strikes, power cuts, the dead unburied and the Government begging cash from the IMF.

But it was a golden era for the unions who all but ran Britain via Labour.

Keir Starmer must never let these wreckers take us back there.

Police farce

WHAT rank double standards by the Met, banning cops from wearing a badge commemorating fallen comrades.

The public is fed up seeing police ­forces virtue-signal their support for trendy liberal causes.

Yet for Met bosses this simple Thin Blue Line emblem is somehow a step too far.

But it is neither political nor “contentious”, as Met chief Mark Rowley claims.

He must think again.

As the Federal Reserve starts to lower interest rates, a perennial theory has returned: that small- and mid-caps will, for a time, grow more quickly than the S&P 500. Today on the show, Katie Martin, Rob Armstrong, and Aiden Reiter discuss whether that is good, or even true. Also, as the seasons change, we go long and short knitwear.

For a free 30-day trial to the Unhedged newsletter go to: https://www.ft.com/unhedgedoffer

You can email Robert Armstrong at robert.armstrong@ft.com and Katie Martin at katie.martin@ft.com.

View our accessibility guide.

HOPES that the much-loathed business rates system would be totally ditched in new reforms were dashed by the Government yesterday.

Exchequer Secretary James Murray confirmed at the Labour conference that any fresh system would still aim to raise the same sum of money from firms.

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Speaking of the overhaul, the Ealing North MP — who has responsibility for the rates — told a British Retail Consortium fringe event in Liverpool: “It’s within the current envelope. It’s all about raising the same amount of money overall, that’s the commitment.”

The Treasury is expected to collect £30billion in the next year from unavoidable business rates — of which retail will pay around £8billion, some 11 per cent of the entire sector’s profits.

There are warnings a failure to create a fairer system will lead to 17,300 more shop closures over the next decade.

The British Retail Consortium argues that retail, as the biggest private sector employer, pays more than its fair share and should have a 20 per cent “rates corrector”.

Shop bosses have argued that rates are the biggest barrier to hiring new staff.

Nick Stowe, CEO of Monsoon Accessorize, which shut 100 shops in the aftermath of the pandemic, said: “We’re trying to convince ourselves to open in places like Durham and it’s really difficult.

We have landlords giving us stores rent-free, but rates are still so high, we can’t do it.”

Confirming he had cut staff, he added: “The knock-on effect is we’re busy trying to squeeze down things that I’m sure the Labour Government don’t want us to squeeze down.”

Matalan boss Jo Whitfield said business rates were a “real barrier” for retail and it was hard to justify keeping shops open in areas of falling sales.

She said the BRC plan for a rates corrector would “almost immediately” prompt retailers to invest in stores.

Mr Murray said Labour wanted to level the playing field between the high street and online, but the BRC called business rates a 20-year failure.

We’ll come to Wrexham

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THE Hollywood effect has trickled into the rental market — with Wrexham now the busiest UK area for tenants.

The Welsh city has boomed since Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought its football club in 2021 and Netflix screened its Welcome to Wrexham series.

It now has 54 rental inquiries for every property, according to Rightmove. The demand is nearly three times the national average of 19 inquiries.

Glasgow is the second most in-demand city, with 52 inquiries per property, and Bristol close behind on 51.

High demand has kept average rents rising by 8.5 per cent — four times the average rate of inflation, official figures show.

Tim Bannister at Rightmove said: “To be receiving upwards of 50 inquiries per property is astonishing. It shows work still needs to be done to improve the balance of supply and demand.”

Irn Bru’s fizzed up by Euros

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THE maker of Irn Bru said its tongue-in-cheek Euros campaign had paid off, with strong sales of “Scotland’s other national drink”.

AG Barr yesterday reported it had shrugged off a soggy summer and Scotland’s early exit in the football tournament with higher sales and market share growth in England.

Its cheeky advert played on the German word for football team, “Mannschaft” and it was deemed one of the best campaigns of the Euros.

Overall, the soft drink maker posted a 5.2 per cent rise in overall sales to £221.3million, but its pre-tax profits were 10 per cent lower due to the closure of its delivery business, Barr Direct.

Euan Sutherland, the former Superdry, Saga and Co-op chief who recently took charge, said “AG Barr’s an excellent business with exciting, tangible and deliverable growth opportunity.”

Pay rise a red card

CARD FACTORY, the budget greetings retailer, has blamed the rising national living wage for a near-halving of its profits.

The chain, which has more than 1,070 stores across the UK and Ireland, reported a 43 per cent slump to £14million, despite sales rising by 3.7 per cent in the six months to July.

The firm said it had faced £64.4million of extra staffing costs compared to last year. Its value slumped by a fifth yesterday as investors dumped shares.

THE cost of fixing a blocked sink or broken boiler can now be split on Klarna’s Buy Now Pay Later scheme.

The Swedish finance firm has partnered with small business platform XERO so tradesmen can accept payments in interest-free instalments.

A SEASIDE town in North Wales is famed for having some of the best weather in the UK.

Alongside beautiful scenery, rich maritime history and lots of family-friendly attractions, Porthmadog has become known for its good weather.

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The coastal town, which has a population around 4,200, regularly tops the UK weather charts.

Its hottest temperature in 2023 was a scorching 31°C, which was recorded on Tuesday 14th June.

The Met Office considers Porthmadog to be one of the warmest places in the UK, and there are a number of reasons why.

Its unique location on the Glaslyn Estuary protects it from harsh winds by the Eryri (Snowdonia) mountains. 

It has its own microclimate that helps keep it warm – air funneling over the mountains sinks and warms.

And its located in the west of Wales, where higher temperatures last longer.

While British holidaymakers looking to chase the sun may want to head to Portmadog for this reason alone, there are many other things the town has going for it.

It has a lively attractive harbour to explore

Porthmadog Harbour is a popular mooring area for yachtsmen and pleasure boaters from all over Europe, and many visitors enjoy spending the afternoon watching the different boats roll in.

It’s also a great place to enjoy local cuisine with lots of restaurants to choose from.

You can take a ride on a steam train through the Welsh countryside

Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways is a group of heritage railways in Wales that offer scenic journeys through Snowdonia National Park.

There’s a 13.5-mile journey that runs from the harbour in Porthmadog to the slate-quarrying town of Blaenau Ffestiniog offering incredible views of mountains, forests, lakes and waterfalls.

You can learn about the town’s rich maritime history

Porthmadog’s Maritime Museum is situated in the last remaining slate shed on the harbour.

It has a large collection of artefacts depicting the seafaring activities of the area – the development of the port, the shipbuilding, the ships, and the lives of the seafarers. There’s also a special area with activities for children.

It has a beautiful beach with lots of activities and mountain views

Black Rock Sands is a beach with some unique features – you can drive straight on to the beach and there are stunning views of the nearby mountains and Harlech and Criccieth castles.

There’s also lots of activities available including water sports, cave exploring and rock pooling.

You can pick up some vinyl from a famous record shop

Cob Records, close of Porthmadog Harbour Station, is a well-known vinyl store because of its large selection of both old and modern music.

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The shop’s been open almost 50 years and used to mail out 7,500 LPs to customers around the world.

The fact that such a relatively small record shop in a small
town like Porthmadog was exporting in such volume worldwide attracted a lot of media attention, and lots of documentaries featuring the business were made for local and national TV and radio.