Commerzbank bought Dresdner Bank at the peak — then needed a €16B state bailout

In August 2008, at the height of the pre-crisis boom, Commerzbank — then Germany's second-largest bank — announced it would acquire Dresdner Bank from insurer Allianz in two steps. The deal was meant to create a national champion and push Commerzbank into the top tier of German banking. Weeks later, Lehman Brothers collapsed and the global financial crisis began.

The timing proved disastrous. Dresdner Bank carried heavy losses tied to the crisis, and as the downturn deepened Commerzbank ran short of capital. In December 2008 the German government's SoFFin rescue fund agreed to provide a €8.2 billion silent capital injection plus a guarantee covering up to €15 billion of the bank's debt. In January 2009 Commerzbank drew a further €10 billion from SoFFin, and the federal government emerged holding 25 percent plus one share — a blocking minority that effectively nationalised Germany's second-largest bank.

The merger with Dresdner Bank was registered on 11 May 2009, by which point the total SoFFin silent injection had reached €16.2 billion. Commerzbank spent years working its way out: a €14.3 billion repayment in 2011, funded by a dilutive capital increase, and further repayments through 2013 brought the state's stake down from 25 percent to about 17. The government was still selling down its remaining holding more than fifteen years later.