Credit Agricole to sell stake in regional banks
(18 February 2016 – France) French lender, Credit Agricole has said it will sell stakes in more than three dozen French regional banks to bolster capital and target all-cash dividends.
The €18 billion (A$28 billion) transaction will increase the bank’s common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio to 11 percent a year earlier than planned, the bank said in a statement this week.
Chief Executive Officer Philippe Brassac is reorganising financial ties with the French regional banks that control a majority of the lender, and in which it owns shares, to free up capital in the face of tougher regulation.
Under the plan, the regional lenders will create a vehicle to buy back the 25 percent stakes currently owned by Credit Agricole, with the bank providing an €11 billion loan to finance the deal.
The transfer will provide more “financial flexibility” by making Credit Agricole’s structure and results more transparent, Chairman Dominique Lefebvre told journalists.
Credit Agricole’s annual profit will be cut by about €470 million, while adding about €300 million in annual cash flow, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Xavier Musca said.
In the fourth quarter, corporate and investment-banking profit dropped to €50 million from €227 million a year earlier, reflecting a decrease of 9.4 percent in corporate lending revenues.
In the same period, net income increased to €882 million, or around 28 percent. Earnings were lifted by increased revenue at money-management businesses, while higher provisions and costs reduced profit at the corporate and investment bank.
According to Musca, the bank’s outline of the operation to the European Central Bank and the French banking authority received a “very favourable welcome.”
The bank will present medium-term goals in a presentation to investors on 9 March 2016.
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