REFILE-French bank Societe Generale repays state support
(refiles, fixing typo in paragraph four)
PARIS, Nov 7 (Reuters) - French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) has bought back all the preferential shares that were held by the state agency SPPE, France's markets authority said in a statement issued on Saturday.
The move was expected. SocGen launched a 4.8 billion euro ($7.14 billion) rights issue on Oct. 6 to repay 3.4 billion euros in state support and fund takeovers.
The subscription ratio for the rights issue was 172 percent, the bank announced on Oct. 29.
Markets watchdog the Autorite des Marches Financiers (AMF) said it had been notified by the SPPE it no longer had a stake in SocGen after the bank had bought back its entire holding of 45,045,045 preferential shares with no voting rights.
"The buy-back was mostly financed by the proceeds of Societe Generale's capital increase," the AMF said.
The SPPE was the body set up to boost the capital of banks under strain in the depths of the financial crisis.
With market conditions improving, SocGen did not want to be the last in a queue of lenders seeking new share capital to rebuild their balance sheets and pay back the expensive state aid they had received.
Other major French banks including BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) and Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) have made or are making similar moves to reimburse state support provided during the crisis. (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Chris Pizzey)
