BNP Paribas, France's biggest listed bank, said on Thursday it would reap a 1.5 billion euro ($2 billion) capital gain from selling more than half its stake in real-estate firm Klepierre to Simon Property Group.The deal takes BNP a step closer to meeting tougher capital requirements under new banking regulations, intended to crack down on risk-taking, that have forced many European banks to slash their balance sheets and sell assets to beef up capital.It will also see Simon Property, the largest owner of U.S. malls and outlet centers, become Klepierre's largest shareholder with a 28.7 percent stake. BNP still holds 22.2 percent in the real estate company and there is speculation that a full exit of Klepierre is on the cards.At 0923 GMT BNP shares were up 4.2 percent at 37.16 euros. The bank's stock has gained 17.5 percent so far this year, outperforming a 6.4 percent rise for the STOXX Europe 600 index .
Simon Property Group, Inc. (Simon) is a real estate company. Shares of SPG remained unchanged at $138.22. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $99.60 and as high as $139.63. On average, 1384190 shares of SPG exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 0.
Source
