Awaiting Commerzbank, Italy's UniCredit bids for Italian rival

With its plans for Germany's Commerzbank seemingly stalled, UniCredit, Italy's second-largest lender, launched Monday a bid to buy its rival BPM for 10.1 billion euros ($10.6 billion). UniCredit surprised markets and Berlin in September when it announced it had built a significant stake in Commerzbank, Germany's second-largest lender, fuelling speculation of a takeover bid.