SocGen in talks with Amundi for 825m euro sale of asset management unit

[PARIS] Societe Generale has entered into exclusive negotiations with asset manager Amundi to sell most of its Lyxor asset management unit, a 825 million euros (S$1.31 billion) transaction in line with the French bank's efforts to boost its profits.

"This disposal project would cover Lyxor's passive (ETFs) and active (including alternative) management activities for institutional clients in France and abroad," Societe Generale said on Wednesday, adding it would retain some of Lyxor units.

"This transaction, which is expected to be finalised by February 2022 at the latest, would be carried out at a price of 825 million euros and would have an estimated positive impact of approximately 18 basis points on the group's CET1 ratio when completed," the bank added.

Reuters reported at the end of March that Societe Generale was in advanced talks with both France's Amundi and US firm State Street to sell Lyxor.

Societe Generale said the capital gain from the sale would be around 430 million euros, adding the transaction would conclude its "refocusing programme" launched in 2018.

Amundi, for its part, said buying Lyxor would make it the leader in Europe in the field of exchange traded funds (ETFs).

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Lyxor, which ranks as Europe's third largest ETF provider, had about 82.3 billion euros of assets under management in ETFs as of February, representing half of its operations.

REUTERS