Mumbai: Credit Agricole SA, France's second- largest bank by assets, is planning to acquire a stake in Société Générale SA even as top bank BNP Paribas SA yesterday said it was considering a bid for the ailing bank. (See:BNP to the rescue as France warns against hostile bids for SocGen)

The two are separately considering to buy at least a part stake as they bid to profit from the fall of France's No. 2 bank, which is at the centre of a €5 billion (£3.7 billion) trading scandal.

Credit Agricole is understood to have hired investment bank Lazard, and its own corporate and investment banking arm Calyon to advise it on a possible bid for Société Générale.

BNP Paribas is widely expected to make a bid for SocGen by early as next week.

French rule requires a bank to inform the central bank, Banque de France, of its intention to make a bid for another lender eight working days before making an offer.
 
The rule was introduced in 1999 by Jean-Clause Trichet, who was then governor of the Banque de France and is now president of the European Central Bank. At that time, BNP was making its first attempt to acquire Société Générale as part of a three-way merger with Paribas.

Societe Generale has 8.4 million retail customers in 30 countries outside France, mainly in Central and Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, and Africa. It also has 2,953 branches in France, accounting for 7.5 per cent of the country's total, according to 2006 figures from the Bank of France.

Credit Agricole, France's largest bank by branches with 7,902 outlets, may have to sell Societe Generale's French consumer banking unit if they combine, sources said. Alternatively, Credit Agricole may initially buy a stake in Paris-based Societe Generale, they added.