Societe Generale has said it will offer to buy out minority shareholders in its internet banking brand, Boursorama, increasing its presence in the online sector.
The French bank owns 56% of its online business, which currently has 505,000 French customers and is aiming to grow to 600,000 by the end of 2014, while minority investors hold around 23%.
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At the end of 2013 Boursorama had 4.48bn ($6.23bn) in customer deposits and 2.61bn in customer loans, making it an attractive source of income for SocGen, which makes about a third of its revenue from retail operations.
SocGen’s ability to take a bigger share of Boursorama is curbed by Spanish Caixa Group, which will not be selling its 21% stake in the online business.
On 18 March, the French bank said it would offer minority stakeholders 12 per share through France’s AMF regulator, 22% more than Boursorama’s closing price the previous day at 9.83 and worth 242m in total.
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