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Thursday, March 8, 2012

REFILE-BNP reaps 1.5 billion eur from Klepierre deal, (NYSE: SPG)

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."Although Simon Property says it does not currently intend to increase its stake (in Klepierre), it seems to us that in the medium-term this is the direction we're going in," Natixis analyst Serge Demirdjian said.

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.



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