In a decision handed down on 30 December, the French Competition Authority authorised La Banque Postale to take control of CNP Assurances and Caisse des Dépôts to take control of La Poste Group.
This authorisation is part of the creation of a major public financial body serving the French regions, around Groupe La Poste and Caisse des Dépôts.
Given the presence of Caisse des Dépôts and Groupe La Poste in many economic sectors, the Authority's analysis covered a large number of markets: banking, insurance, real estate, document and data processing, internet access and health. In particular, the Authority examined the consequences of combining banking and insurance activities within the same group. It found that the parties' respective market shares in all these sectors remained moderate and that other powerful players* were also active in these sectors.
Read the press release (in French)
Eventually:
- La Poste will be majority owned by Caisse des Dépôts (66%) and 34% by the French State ;
- La Banque Postale will become the majority shareholder (62.1%) of CNP Assurances.
Le On 19 December, Groupe BPCE, Natixis and La Banque Postale announced the creation of a leading insurance management player. Natixis and La Banque Postale have defined the main principles and terms of the planned merger of some of their asset management business in France. The agreements concerning CNP Assurances (extension of commercial agreements and shareholders' agreement) were signed and reinforce CNP Assurances' multi-partner model. Read the press release
* Such as Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel, BNP Paribas and BPCE.