Crédit Agricole nears deal to acquire Belgian asset manager Degroof Petercam

French financial group Crédit Agricole is said to be close to a deal to acquire Belgian asset manager Degroof Petercam, financial news agency Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing insiders.

Talks are at an advanced stage and the transaction would value Degroof Petercam at more than one billion euros, Bloomberg writes. However, according to the news agency's sources, the deal could still fall through.

Dutch bank ABN Amro was also said to be in the running for a takeover of the Belgian asset manager, but ABN Amro's interest is said to have cooled recently.

Degroof Petercam is Belgium's largest independent asset manager, with around 70 billion euros under its management. It was created in 2015 by the merger of Degroof and Petercam, whose roots date back to 1871.

Crédit Agricole is already active in wealth management in Belgium through Indosuez Wealth Management.

^{© BELGA PHOTO JAMES ARTHUR GEKIERE}