Europe's top asset manager Amundi outlines $8 billion IPO

By Maya Nikolaeva and Julien Ponthus

PARIS (Reuters) - Europe's biggest asset manager Amundi promised to pay out at least 60 percent of net profit in dividends as it outlined plans to raise money for shareholder Societe Generale via an IPO in Paris.

Amundi, created from the merger of asset management operations of French banks Credit Agricole and Societe Generale in 2010, plans to list its shares in mid-November, its chief executive office Yves Perrier told journalists on Wednesday.

The IPO could value the company at more than 7 billion euros (£5.2 billion), analysts said in September. Perrier said he has not yet seen valuations made by analysts.

Analysts of the banks organising the initial public offering are expected to publish their valuation research in late October, a banking source familiar with the matter said. Amundi's European peers, such as Italy's Mediolanum and Anima, are trading on 12-month price to earnings ratios of 14.73 and 17.21 respectively.

"We are listening to the opinion of investment bankers ... they are telling us that we can proceed (with the IPO) in the current market conditions," Perrier said.

The purpose of the IPO is to provide liquidity to SocGen, which could sell up to its entire 20 percent stake. SocGen has said the cash it gets from the IPO would help lift its core equity tier 1 ratio by 20 basis points.

“For Amundi it (the IPO) will change nothing from the point of its strategy ... but it will give us financial flexibility ... and will strengthen our reputation,” Perrier said.

He added that Credit Agricole, which holds the remaining 80 percent of the business, may consider selling up to a 5 percent stake, although he stressed that a final decision had not been taken.

Crédit Agricole has said it intends to retain a majority stake in the asset manager, which plays a key role in its development strategy. Amundi operations accounted for around 12 percent of Credit Agricole's net income in the first half of the year.

Amundi targets increasing its assets under management by 120 billion euros in 2016-2018, from 954 billion euros by end-June 2015. It expects the French equity market to rise 2 percent annually on average over the next three years.

Perrier said Amundi's financial structure was solid and its capital buffer stood at 3.1 billion euros (£2.3 billion) at the end of June, which he said was sufficient to withstand tighter financial regulation of the sector if needed.

Regulators are concerned that asset managers face liquidity risks and consequences from the transition out of central banks' quantitative easing programmes, which have driven asset prices higher.

"We are open for a debate and we are all for good regulation ... that anticipates future problems, rather than addresses the past," Perrier said.

"It's not us who bear the risk directly, but we know, that in terms of collateral, there are a number of risks we take."

(Additional reporting by James Regan and Emiliano Mellino; Editing by Andrew Callus and Susan Fenton)