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2009-10-06 07:03:01
Societe Generale plans to raise 4.8bn euros ($7bn; 4.4bn) in a share issue to enable it to repay the emergency loans it needed from the French state.
The bank said it would offer existing shareholders a further two shares for each nine they own, with the new stock priced at a 27% discount.
SocGen has received 3.4bn euros of state aid since the end of last year to help it cope with the financial crisis.
Its announcement follows a similar move by rival BNP Paribas last week.
Expansion plans
Societe Generale said the capital increase would also enable it to pursue potential takeovers, including plans to buy Franco-Belgian bank Dexia's 20% stake in French lender Credit du Nord.
It said it intended to buy this stake in Credit du Nord before the end of the year.
Societe Generale's most recent results, for the three months to the end of June, showed a 52% fall in profits from a year earlier to 309m euros.
However, its performance is said to have improved since then, as the global banking sector has started to recover.
In April, the bank's chairman, Daniel Bouton, announced his resignation, saying personal attacks against him risked "harming the bank".
Mr Bouton's departure came both after the bank needed state aid, but also as it continued to deal with the aftermath of a trading scandal at the start of 2008.
This centred on rogue trader Jerome Kerviel, who is accused of losing 4.9bn euros.
Mr Kerviel was charged in August of this year with forgery, breach of trust and unauthorised computer use. He is due to go on trial in early 2010.