Belgian state hires Nomura for Belfius bank float -sources

By Arno Schuetze and Pamela Barbaglia

FRANKFURT/LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Belgium has hired Nomura to prepare the country's third-largest bank Belfius for an initial public offering (IPO) in a deal that could value the lender at up to 8 billion euros ($9.3 billion), sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Belfius, which was carved out from bailed-out lender Dexia, could be one of the biggest banking floats in Europe since the 2008 financial crisis and would follow a similar move by Allied Irish Banks (AIB) which raised 3 billion euros in an IPO in June.

Belgium's Federal Holding and Investment Company, the state agency in charge of Belfius, has asked Nomura to start preliminary work on the IPO which includes the selection of global coordinators and bookrunners, the sources said.

Belfius is expected to list at least 20 percent of its shares and could raise more than 1.5 billion euros from the float which will test investor appetite for Belgian banks, one of the sources said.

The listing could take place in the first half of 2018, one of the sources said, cautioning that the IPO window will depend on market conditions.

Nomura declined to comment while Belfius and the Belgian government were not immediately available.

Belfius has staged a strong recovery since 2011 when Franco-Belgian bank Dexia was broken up and partly nationalised after being hit by a funding squeeze during the financial crisis.

The Belgian state took control of the banking arm of Dexia in a 4 billion euro rescue deal in 2011, which led to the creation of Belfius.

Belfius, which also provides life and non-life insurance, has offloaded its predecessor's riskier assets while growing its total equity capital to 9.3 billion euros.

The group posted a 45 percent rise in net income after tax in the first half of 2017, representing a total of 361 million euros.

Its legacy portfolios have been significantly reduced in recent years and no longer represent a material risk, ratings agency Fitch said in note earlier this year.

The lender has a market share of 15 percent of loans in Belgium and 13 percent of deposits. ($1 = 0.8621 euros) (Editing by David Evans)

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