(Bloomberg) -- Germany said it’s opposed to a takeover of Commerzbank AG shortly after UniCredit Spa announced it had increased its stake in the lender, deepening a rift between the government and the Italian bank.

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“We have taken note of UniCredit’s actions — we do not support a takeover,” a German finance ministry official said adding that it has “communicated” this stance to the Italian bank.

The statement comes just a few hours after UniCredit disclosed it had bought derivatives contracts for an 11.5% stake in Commerzbank, enabling it to add to the 9% of the bank that it already owns. The step effectively makes UniCredit the largest shareholder ahead of the German government and puts it on course for a takeover.

Resentment within the German government has been building against the way the UniCredit Chief Executive Officer Andrea Orcel took a 9% stake in a lender seen as a crucial source of funding for the country’s economy, Bloomberg News has reported.

Many were irked by a perceived lack of transparency in the way Orcel bought a 4.5% stake from the government this month, having quietly acquired the rest of the holding in the market.

Orcel used derivatives to build the stake and he again relied on a similar strategy to effectively expand the holding to about 21%, Bloomberg has reported.

“The German government supports Commerzbank’s strategy of independence,” the government official said on Monday.

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