SocGen says board never discussed bid offer

PARIS (Reuters) - French bank Societe Generale said that a board meeting held on Wednesday never discussed the subject of a takeover bid for SocGen.

"The topic was not on the agenda of the board," said a spokeswoman for the bank.

SocGen shares were up 5.4 percent in late afternoon trade after French newspaper Le Figaro carried out a report by news agency AFP which said that SocGen chairman Daniel Bouton was "open to a friendly offer."

The SocGen spokeswoman said the report was "without foundation."

(Reporting by Yann Le Guernigou, Sudip Kar-Gupta)