SocGen to sell Equipment Finance business to BPCE for $1.2 billion

PARIS (Reuters) -Societe Generale said on Thursday it had agreed to sell its professional equipment financing business to French rival BPCE for 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) as part of a wider divestment strategy, lifting its shares by more than 3%.

The sale is part of a strategy led by Chief Executive Slawomir Krupa to streamline France's third-largest listed bank and focus on long-term value creation. Societe Generale has also recently sold assets in Africa.

Societe Generale said the sale of most of Societe Generale Equipment Finance, which it expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, would raise its Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio by about 25 basis points. CET1 is the highest quality of regulatory capital held by banks.

Societe Generale Equipment Finance provides equipment leasing and financing solutions to manufacturers, dealers and vendors in sectors ranging from transport to industrials.

Shares in Societe Generale, which said it would keep Equipment Finance's activities in Czech Republic and Slovakia, were up 2.35% to 25.75 euros, topping France's CAC 40 index and among the best STOXX 600 performers.

"SocGen is an overcomplex business with limited synergies between the various business units. We view this development as a step in the right direction that will free up capital that SocGen can use elsewhere or return to shareholders," Morningstar analyst Johann Scholtz said.

Reuters reported in September that the bank was looking to sell Societe Generale Equipment Finance.

($1 = 0.9309 euros)

(Reporting by Inti Landauro; additional reporting by Federica Mileo and Dominique Vidalon; editing by Jason Neely and Alexander Smith)