Societe Generale SA

* Seeks to grow its advisory business (Adds executive comments on cost and expansion in financing)

Societe Generale will press ahead with an overhaul of its investment bank after its equities division posted its best performance in six years in the first quarter, the French bank said on Thursday.

France's third-biggest listed bank Societe Generale on Thursday recorded a sharp rebound in its trading business in the first quarter of the year, sending earnings above expectations.

ACS intends to present a binding bid for Atlantia's motorway unit within a reasonable time frame, the Spanish company wrote in its second letter to the Italian group, two sources said on Friday.

Spanish infrastructure group ACS has hired French investment bank Societe Generale to advise it on its up to 10 billion euro ($11.98 billion) offer for Autostrade per L'Italia, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.

Societe Generale is in exclusive talks to sell most of asset manager Lyxor to Amundi for 825 million euros ($979 million) and complete the French bank's corporate restructuring while boosting Amundi's market share.

Societe Generale is in advanced talks with both France's Amundi and U.S. firm State Street to sell its Lyxor asset management unit as part of efforts to boost profitability, four sources told Reuters.

Turkey may have lost the faith of investors long weary of a cycle of unorthodox policies, analysts said, after President Tayyip Erdogan's shock sacking of its central bank chief.

Societe Generale said the dismissal of Turkey's central bank governor Naci Agbal had left the country "beyond the point of no return" and predicted the lira to weaken to 9.70 against the U.S. Dollar by end of the second quarter.

Societe Generale said on Wednesday it expected no change in the Turkish Central Bank's policy rates in the first half of this year, with a 100 basis point cut seen in the third quarter and an additional 100 point cut in the fourth quarter.

* Shares up 3.3% (Recasts, adds management comments, updates shares)

Societe Generale sees a rebound in financial earnings in 2021, Chief Executive Frederic Oudea told reporters on Wednesday.

Amundi Chief Executive Yves Perrier is stepping down after more than a decade running Europe's largest fund manager and will be succeeded by his deputy Valérie Baudson, the group said on Friday.

France's Societe Generale posted a drop in equity and fixed-income trading revenues in the fourth quarter, the bank reported on Wednesday, out of step with many rivals who profited from volatility during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Foreign investors were net sellers of most Asian equities in 2020, deterred by the economic slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although the flows turned positive in the fourth quarter on hopes of a recovery and vaccine optimism.

Current analysis of the newsflow suggests there will be a "No Deal" regarding Brexit, wrote French bank Societe Generale's Cross Asset Research team in a note on Wednesday.

* Online arm Boursorama targets 4.5 million clients in 2025 (Adds SocGen comments on job issues)

France's Societe Generale said on Monday it expected to shut 600 branches in France by 2025 with the merging of its two retail banking networks Societe Generale and Credit du Nord.

Societe Generale and Credit du Nord have approved a plan to merge their retail banking operations after the boards of both French institutions met separately over the weekend, Les Echos reported on Sunday.