Cerberus hires Goldman Sachs for potential sale of CCF after €82 million profit
Key Facts
Cerberus Capital Management is working with Goldman Sachs on a potential sale of French banking group CCF, according to two people familiar with the matter cited by Reuters. The process is expected to formally begin in the coming weeks, moving the matter from sounding out interest to a clearer sale path. Neither party has announced a deal or potential buyer, while a CCF representative said the bank "does not comment on rumors" and is focused on maintaining its commercial momentum. The move follows the bank posting net profit of 82 million euros through the end of September 2026, compared with a loss of 448 million euros in the same period a year earlier. The results could give potential buyers a recent indication of the bank's performance during its transformation.
Nine-month results also showed an improvement in operations, with operating profit reaching 196 million euros through the end of September, compared with 44 million euros in the same period of 2025. This coincided with a 16% year-on-year decline in operating costs to 416 million euros, Groupe CCF said. In its results for the previous year, the group reported revenue of 801 million euros and normalized operating income of 140 million euros. But its net accounting result for 2025 was a loss of 575 million euros, which the company attributed to exceptional items related to its transformation plan. This gap between normalized operating performance and the accounting loss highlights the effect of restructuring when assessing the bank's financial record.
CCF said its transformation plan delivered cost savings of 141 million euros in 2025, with savings of about 200 million euros targeted over the medium term. Chief Executive Nicolo Obertalli said the bank's trajectory was "two years ahead of our targets" thanks to commercial momentum exceeding expectations. The group says it has 715,000 active customers and attracted 35,000 new customers in 2025, an increase of 13% from 2024. Its medium-term targets also include a return on tangible equity above 16%, a cost-to-income ratio below 55%, and revenue exceeding 825 million euros. These figures provide a picture of the scale of the transformation the owner is seeking to show potential buyers.
Cerberus's ownership of the French banking business dates to a deal announced in 2021 to buy HSBC's French retail operations for a nominal price of 1 euro. The business then had 244 branches and about 3,900 employees. The deal was completed in January 2024, and My Money Group was renamed Groupe CCF as the Crédit Commercial de France brand was revived. CCF says it has assets of 31 billion euros, about two-thirds of which are loans, and net banking income of 806 million euros. An earlier report in April said investment bankers had sounded out potential buyers, without launching a formal sale process at the time; CCF had said it was pursuing a long-term strategy to build a bank specializing in wealth management.