Agricole to sell assets and restructure Calyon

By Sudip Kar-Gupta

PARIS (Reuters) - Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA), France's biggest retail bank, said on Thursday it would sell assets and restructure its Calyon investment banking arm as it confirmed a 5.9 billion euro (4.69 billion pound) rights issue.

Agricole said it would cut around 10 percent of costs at Calyon, which has been hit by the global credit crunch.

"Credit Agricole has paid the price of this crisis," Chief Executive Georges Pauget told reporters.

The bank said it would continue to sell non-core assets to bolster its financial position and had identified around 5 billion euros' worth of potential disposals over an 18-month period.

Agricole unveiled the key elements of its first-quarter results and its planned rights issue earlier this week. It formally published the full first-quarter figures on Thursday.

"The rights issue will be launched before the summer, subject to market conditions," Agricole said in a statement.

Agricole's first-quarter net profit fell 66 percent to 892 million euros, hit by a 1.2 billion euro writedown at Calyon.

The bank said on Thursday Calyon registered a first-quarter loss of 795 million euros.