Berlin  - The German government will take a 25 per cent cent stake plus one share in one of the country's leading banks, Commerzbank, sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Thursday.

The newspaper Die Welt said the move was in return for a 10 billion-euro (13.56 billion dollars) injection of capital.

Earlier in the day, Commerzbank became the first German lender to issue a bond backed by state guarantees. The bank set the size of the bond at 5 billion euros.

Commerzbank, which is poised to take over rival Dresdner Bank at the end of January, became the first leading German bank to take advantage of a government fund to bail out banks hit by the global financial crisis. (dpa)