Societe Generale and Calyon Sign a Merger Agreement between Fimat and Calyon Financial and Announce the Creation of Newedge

  
    
  
  
    
      Société Générale 
      and Calyon today signed the final agreement relative to the merger of 
      the brokerage activities currently carried out by their respective 
      subsidiaries, Fimat and Calyon Financial.
    
    
      The operational launch of the new entity is scheduled for early 2008, 
      subject to the approval of supervisory authorities.
    
    
      The resulting entity, Newedge, will be controlled 50/50 by Société 
      Générale and 
      Calyon and will have bank status. It will be headquartered in Paris, and 
      is expected to have a combined staff of around 3,000 located in the world’s 
      main financial centres.
    
    
      Newedge will be provided with effective governance which will ensure its 
      autonomy in operational functions and anticipate any conflict arising 
      between the shareholders. These will have the same rights and the same 
      representation on the Board of Directors. The Chairman, Marc Litzler, 
      Deputy CEO of Calyon and the Vice-Chairman, Philippe Collas, Deputy CEO 
      of Société Générale 
      with responsibility for its Global Investment Management and Services 
      division, will each be appointed for a period of two years, with an 
      alternation between Société 
      Générale and 
      Calyon.
    
    
      Patrice Blanc, the Chairman and CEO of the Fimat Group, will be 
      appointed CEO of Newedge and Richard Ferina, Calyon Financial’s 
      Chairman and CEO, will be Deputy CEO.
    
    
      In a fast-growing market, Newedge will rank as a world leader in 
      execution, in particular electronic execution, as well as in clearing 
      derivative products traded in over 70 organized markets in the USA, 
      Europe and Asia-Pacific.
    
    
      On a pro forma basis as at 31st 
      December, 2006, the combined entity handled more than 1.3 billion 
      contracts, with sales of over one billion euros.
    
    
      In addition to its core business as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), 
      the new entity will continue to offer a range of complementary execution 
      services on OTC markets and on all the spot markets, including money 
      market instruments, bonds, equities, FX and tangible commodities.
    
    
      A leading player in brokerage, Newedge will combine the specific 
      know-how (risk management, cross margining, financing, etc) of the two 
      entities and provide an innovative and comprehensive prime brokerage 
      offering, an alternative to the services proposed by investment banks to 
      their institutional customers.
    
    
      Generating diversified revenue streams from banks, brokers, firms and 
      management companies including hedge funds, the new entity will thus 
      meet the increasing demands of a broader customer base, with a wider 
      spectrum of products and access to increasingly substantial sources of 
      liquidity.
    
    
      Société Générale 
      Global Investment Management & Services (GIMS) has 11,435 
      employees and includes:
    
    
      
        Asset Management (Société 
        Générale Asset 
        Management is one of the world’s leading 
        asset managers, with EUR 393.4 billion under management as at 30th 
        June, 2007),
      
      
        Private Banking (SG Private Banking, with offices in 23 countries, 
        manages EUR 73.8 billion in assets as at 30th June, 2007),
      
      
        Securities Services (Société 
        Générale 
        Securities Services currently ranks 3rd among 
        securities custodians in Europe with EUR 2,580 billion in assets under 
        custody as at 30th June, 2007) and Boursorama (direct banking).
      
    
    
      www.socgen.com
    
    
      Calyon Credit Agricole CIB is the investment banking arm of the 
      Credit Agricole Group. With over 13,000 employees in more than 55 
      countries, Calyon is active in a broad range of Capital Markets, 
      brokerage, Investment Banking and structured financing, corporate 
      banking and International Private Banking.
    
    
      Credit Agricole is the fourth largest bank in the world by tier 1 
      capital, number two in Europe, (The Banker, July 2007). Credit Agricole 
      Group employs over 155 000 and has EUR 58.7 billion capital and Net 
      banking Income of EUR 29.9 billion.
    
    
      www.calyon.com