Dresdner to Consider Commerzbank Merger

Dresdner Bank executives are expected to weigh a merger with rival Commerzbank at their regular board meeting today as pressure mounts for both lending houses to speed up negotiations on a deal to create Germany’s second-largest bank. Timing is increasingly important as bankers rush to give a deal shape before uncertainty about the banks’ futures triggers a flood of employee and customer defections--as happened during the dragged-out courtship between Dresdner and Deutsche Bank this spring. Dresdner finally backed out of that deal. While analysts say Commerzbank Chairman Martin Kohlhaussen and Dresdner chief Bernd Fahrholz both back full merger, they say the banks’ big shareholders are throwing up roadblocks. Dresdner Bank shares have fallen 8% since June 15, the day before the talks became public, valuing the company at $21.9 billion. Commerzbank shares have declined 6% since June 15, giving it a market value of $18 billion.