France's CDC planning multiple stake sales - FT

(Reuters) - French state-owned bank Caisse des Depots (CDC) is planning to sell shares worth hundreds of millions of euros in some of the country's largest companies, its Chief Executive Pierre-Rene Lemas said in an interview with the Financial Times. CDC has to reduce the number of companies it owns as it made "no sense" to keep many of its positions, Lemas said in the interview published Sunday. Some targets have already been identified while CDC is in the process of deciding which of its 16 subsidiaries the 200-year-old bank will sell, 65-year-old Lemas added. "Many of our companies are there for historical reasons." Lemas said he wanted CDC to add to the economy in ways beyond simply being a shareholder in large companies. "The CDC should be focused on supporting the French economy, promoting the energy transition towards renewables and helping with social housing in France," the paper quoted him as saying. The sale of stakes in large companies could yield hundreds of millions of euros that could be used elsewhere in France, added Lemas who has been CDC's CEO since mid-2014. CDC said on Friday it had sold about four percent of French water and waste group Veolia Environnement SA for close-to 456 million euros ($511.6 million), bringing the bank's total stake in Veolia down to 4.62 percent. CDC was not available for comment outside of regular business hours. ($1 = 0.8913 euros) (Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler)