Last checked at 
By Gwénaëlle Barzic
PARIS, June 17 (Reuters) - HSBC is set to announce
the sale of its retail banking operations in France to private
equity group Cerberus on Friday, three sources familiar with the
matter said, after struggling to offload a business that will
need restructuring.
The bank had entered final negotiations with Cerberus
several months ago, as part of its efforts to slash costs across
the group.
A spokesperson for HSBC confirmed that a meeting
was scheduled with labour unions on Friday to discuss retail
banking operations, but declined to comment further. Cerberus
declined to comment.
Two of the sources said HSBC was also due to hold a board
meeting related to the deal on Friday.
Bidders who had circled the business had wanted it to be
fully recapitalised and for HSBC to put money into it, sources
had previously told Reuters.
HSBC is expected to put around 1 billion euros ($1.2
billion) into the business as part of the deal with Cerberus,
according to a fourth source close to the matter, echoing
reports in French media of an injection of up to 1.5 billion
euros.
HSBC's French retail business has 230 branches and employs
some 3,900 staff. Lazard is advising on the sale.
($1 = 0.8409 euros)
(Reporting by Gwenaelle Barzic; Additional reporting by
Lawrence White in London; Writing by Sarah White; Editing by
Pravin Char)
