Soc Gen to sell TCW fund stake

The French bank Societe Generale has reached an agreement to sell US asset manager group TCW to the Carlyle Group and TCW employees, a statement said on Thursday. Financial details were not provided, and the deal is expected to be finalised in early 2013. The deal includes the 80 percent stake Societe Generale owns directly in the Los Angeles-based company that has about $127 billion (103 billion euros) in assets under management, as well the remaining 20 percent it owns via a joint venture with Credit Agricole bank. After the deal TCW employees and management will hold approximately 40 percent of TCW, according to Carlyle. For Societe Generale, the deal will reinforce its core capital ratio by 0.13 percentage points, the statement said, helping the bank meet new reserve standards known as Basel III requirements. The bank said the sale was undertaken in line with its programme to focus on core activities, and it would book a limited goodwill charge before the finalisation of the sale. In the second quarter it wrote down by 200 million euros ($245 million) the value of its holding in TCW, which it acquired in 2001, in order "to take account of the situation in the asset management market in the current economic environment." Societe Generale's net profit slumped 42 percent in the second quarter to 433 million euros.