26 Aug 2009
Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Natixis SA, the French bank whose two biggest shareholders were pushed to merge by the government, said its parent, BPCE, will cover about 35 billion euros ($50 billion) of assets with a guarantee.Natixis posted an 883 million-euro loss in the second quarter, compared with a 1.02 billion-euro loss a year earlier, the Paris-based company said in a statement today. The loss exceeded the 552 million-euro median estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
The bank's main shareholders, Groupe Banque Populaire and Groupe Caisse d'Epargne, completed their merger in July, creating France's second-biggest retail banking network by branches behind Credit Agricole SA. The merger was also aimed at helping shore up Natixis, which has reported five straight quarterly losses tied to asset writedowns.
Francois Perol, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's appointee to head the combined bank, also became Natixis's chairman in April. Perol picked Laurent Mignon, formerly a managing partner at Oddo & Cie., who in May became Natixis' chief executive officer replacing Dominique Ferrero.
