BNP to the rescue as France warns against hostile bids for SocGen

31 January 2008

Mumbai: France's top bank BNP Paribas today confirmed it was considering a bid for crisis-hit Societe Generale even as the French government faced criticism from other European Union members for issuing warnings against hostile bids.

"We are studying it because all Europe's banks are studying it," said a spokesman for BNP Paribas.

BNP Paribas had, in 1999, made an unsuccessful attempt to take over SocGen. Speculation has been strife since then of a merger between the two.

Foreign banks, including Britain's HSBC and Barclays, Germany's Deutsche Bank, Spain's Banco Santander and Italy's UniCredit have also been cited as potential bidders for the bank.

But speculation has been rife that the French government is planning to back a merger between BNP Paribas and Societe Generale to pre-empt a foreign takeover.

French prime minister Francois Fillon fired the first warning on Tuesday, when he said "the government is determined that Societe Generale remains a great French bank."