Commerzbank AG (CRZBF) Chief Executive Martin Blessing, who will fully participate in the bank's capital increase that is under way, will buy new shares worth about EUR170,000, according to a Dow Jones Newswires calculation. 

"I will fully exercise my subscription rights," Mr. Blessing said Friday. 

Currently, Mr. Blessing holds almost 40,000 shares in Commerzbank. 

If fully exercising his subscription rights in the capital increase, in which Commerzbank shareholders will get 20 new shares for every 21 shares they own at a price of EUR4.50 a share, Mr. Blessing will spend EUR169,564 in the transaction. 

Until May 28, shareholders in Commerzbank, Germany's second-largest listed bank, can exercise their subscription rights in a EUR2.5 billion capital increase aimed to bolster the bank's balance sheet and reduce government involvement in the bank. 

During the financial crisis, the German government injected EUR18.2 billion into Commerzbank to keep the bank afloat in the wake of the ill-timed acquisition of Dresdner Bank. 

Write to Ulrike Dauer at ulrike.dauer@dowjones.com and Madeleine Nissen at madeleine.nissen@dowjones.com