PARIS, Dec 19 (Reuters) – French bank Societe Generale has agreed to sell its Nordics-based SG Finans division to Helsinki-headquartered Nordea Bank for 575 million euros ($634 million) as part of a wider asset sales plan.
The price valued the SG Finans business at a price-to-book multiple of 1.07 times, online ammunition Nordea said on Thursday.
The transaction is expected to have a positive impact of 140 million euros on Nordea’s annual income, it said.
SocGen said the deal would have a negative impact of around 100 million euros on its fourth quarter results but boost its core tier 1 capital ratio by around 10 basis points.
SG Finans runs equipment finance and factoring solutions in Norway, Denmark and Sweden, and has 360 employees.
“This acquisition strengthens our ability to advise and help small and medium-sized corporates with their financial needs,” said Nordea Group CEO Frank Vang-Jensen.
($1 = 0.9073 euros) (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Jason Neely)
