PARIS (Reuters) - Credit Agricole (PA:CAGR) said on Tuesday it has sold its entire 15.4 percent stake in investment company Eurazeo (PA:EURA) to the holding company of the Decaux family, which controls the JCDecaux (PA:JCDX) advertising business, for 790.5 million euros ($891 million).
Credit Agricole, France's third-largest listed bank, was a key player in the creation of Eurazeo in the early 2000s from a web of holding companies owned by investment bank Lazard.
The French bank said the sale would boost its common equity Tier 1 core capital adequacy ratio by 0.1 percentage points and that it would book a 100 million-euro gain in its second-quarter results.
Credit Agricole like other banks across Europe has sold assets and cut costs to strengthen its balance sheet to comply with tougher global banking industry rules.
"For Crédit Agricole S.A., which since 2004 has accompanied Eurazeo's growth, this disposal is aligned with its strategy to divest of its capital-consuming, non-controlling stakes," the bank said in a statement.
