The encyclopedia · Finance & Accounting · Financial decision · 1999
BNP's double OPA — the bid that took Paribas and let Société Générale escape
In 1999 BNP bid for Paribas and Société Générale at once — it won the first and lost the one it wanted, and French finance still retells it.
BNP · Paribas · Société Générale
HearsayWidely repeated, and we cannot show you a document for it. Read it for the lesson, not as fact.
What it means today
A takeover or strategic move aimed at two targets at once splits the financing, the attention and the regulatory fight between them, and ends up winning the prize that mattered less. Focus is the offer's strongest asset.
What happened
In February 1999 Société Générale launched a hostile bid for Paribas. BNP — Banque Nationale de Paris, led by Michel Pébereau — answered in March with a double unsolicited offer: hostile bids for Société Générale and Paribas at the same time. Three French banks, two takeover fights, one summer.
The battle was fought in the market, in the press and in the institutions. When it ended, BNP's bid for Société Générale failed to clear the threshold, while its bid for Paribas succeeded. On 23 May 2000 the shareholders' meeting ratified the merger of BNP and Paribas into BNP Paribas.
The double bid was the overreach. Bidding for two banks at once split BNP's financing, its share-offer and its regulators across two fights, and every target had a reason to resist. BNP walked away with Paribas — but the bank its double OPA had really set out to take, Société Générale, stayed independent.
Why it happened
- A double hostile bid split the offer, the financing and the regulatory fight across two targets instead of concentrating on one
- Making Paribas the second prize let the fight for Société Générale slip: the counter-bid turned the market's attention to the bank BNP could take, not the one it wanted
- Two simultaneous fights handed every rival, regulator and shareholder a reason to oppose both, so neither got the full focus it needed to clear
The lesson
A power move that splits its focus splits its force. Two hostile bids at once handed every opponent a reason to resist both, and BNP kept the prize it wanted less.
Aftermath
BNP and Paribas merged on 23 May 2000 to form BNP Paribas, one of Europe's largest banks. Société Générale remained independent. The 1999 struggle is still retold in French finance as the double OPA — the battle that took Paribas and let Société Générale escape.
Sources
- BNP Paribas — Wikipedia
- BNP Paribas — Wikipédia (fr)
- Dresdner and BNP to forge superbank — The Guardian
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