Societe Generale Investor Groupama Says It Didn’t Sell a ‘Single’ Share
Societe Generale Investor Groupama Says It Didn?t Sell a ?Single? Share - Bloomberg
By Kevin Crowley - Aug 12, 2011 5:48 PM GMT+0100
Groupama SA,
Societe Generale (GLE) SA’s second-biggest investor, didn’t sell “a single share” in the bank in the past six weeks even as the stock plunged and analysts questioned the insurer’s financial strength.
The investments in Societe Generale and
Mediobanca SpA (MB) “are strategic holdings” Aneta Lazarevic, a spokeswoman for the French insurer said today in a telephone interview. “We haven’t sold a single share.”
Societe Generale has declined by almost a third this month amid investors’ concern over the bank’s reliance on short-term funding and speculation that Groupama may have been forced to reduce its stake. Analysts at CreditSights and Bank of America Merrill Lynch say Groupama may sell its holdings in the future as market declines reduce its solvency ratio, which trails European rivals, and as European regulations are implemented.
“They are looking for an opportunity to sell” their stock holdings, said Christian Dinesen, head of international credit research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in
London. “Selling equities would be a balance between their need to improve their solvency versus the impact on their profit and loss account.” By selling the stake, the insurer would limit its potential losses, which would boost the solvency ratio.
That measure probably dropped to 117 percent by Aug. 4 from 130 percent at the end of June due to falls in equity markets, Christian Collin, Groupama vice president of finance and risk, said in a
conference call this month. That trails Zurich Financial Services’ ratio of 242 percent and
Axa SA (CS)’s 186 percent.
Assicurazioni Generali SpA, Italy’s biggest insurer, has a solvency ratio of 134 percent.
An insurer’s solvency ratio is a measure of its ability to meet its long-term liabilities. The higher the percentage the more the firm’s net income can cover its future payouts to customers and creditors.
‘Extremely Weak’
Groupama’s solvency ratio is “extremely weak” due to its equity holdings, which comprise 15 percent of its assets, according to Philippe Picagne, lead insurance analyst at
CreditSights Ltd. in London. That’s more than three times the proportion of Zurich and Axa, who have 3.5 percent and 4 percent of their assets in stocks.
Collin said in August the firm’s solvency is “stable” and noted that it had marked all its periphery debt to its market price when posting its results. Lazarevic, the Groupama spokeswoman, repeated his comments today.
The insurer holds 4.25 percent of Societe Generale, making it the bank’s second-biggest shareholder behind employees of the company, according to a regulatory filing in March. Groupama is the fourth-biggest shareholder in Mediobanca,
Italy’s biggest publicly-traded investment bank, with a 3.1 percent stake, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Equity Holdings
Collin said the insurer plans to reduce its equity holdings to 5 percent from 15 percent before Solvency II, new European regulations for insurers to be implemented in 2013. The firm would consider selling when the CAC 40 is around 4,100 points, he said. The index was up 4 percent at 3,213.88 points in Paris today.
Groupama also owns 4.5 billion euros ($6.4 billion) of Greek government bonds, 17 percent of which belong to shareholders and the rest to policyholders, according to the company’s half-year earnings published this month. Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings Ltd. downgraded the insurers’ credit score in the last three months because of its investments in
Greece.
Selling Equities
“It’s clear the eurozone crisis makes some pressure on our solvency but I want to underline that we don’t want to join the collective panic,” Collin said Aug. 4. “We don’t see any default of Spain and Italy.”
Selling equities, even at a loss, may be a way of stabilizing its assets, Picagne said. “Selling equities would be a means to protect from a further decline in the market,” he said.
Societe Generale has declined 33 percent in the past month on concerns about its perceived reliance on short-term funding, according to analysts at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. The stock rose 5.7 percent to 24.30 euros today in Paris trading. Mediobanca is down 2.5 percent this month and today climbed 9.9 percent to 6.12 euros a share.
Fresh Capital
Groupama needs about 2 billion euros of fresh capital to pass Solvency II,
Europe’s new insurance regulations due to be implemented next year, CreditSights’ Picagne wrote in a note dated Aug. 7. Should it fail to raise the funds, Groupama will be forced to sell some of its insurance divisions, he said.
The CAC 40 has dropped 3.2 percent since Aug. 4 and the STOXX Europe 600 Index is down 2.3 percent. “This does bring them closer to a potential S&P downgrade,” Dinesen said.
Groupama’s 750 million euros of senior subordinated notes due in 2039 yield 709 basis points more than government debt, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader prices. That’s 133 basis points more than at the start of the month. The company has the option to repay, or call, the notes in 2019.
The insurer was cut by Standard and Poor’s and Fitch Ratings in the last three months due to its holdings of periphery euro-zone
government bonds. S&P lowered its
credit rating to BBB+ from A- in May citing “material exposure to Greek government bonds.” Fitch reduced its rating to A- from A this month.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Crowley in London at
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To contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at
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