European Morning Credit: Today in European Credit

Research evidence excerpt

European Morning Credit: Today in European Credit

Financials

Belfius (CCBGBB): Belfius reportedly sounding out family

offices for state stake sale

According to unconfirmed reports from Tijd/l’Echo, Belfius has been sounding out family

offices of wealthy Belgian families to see if there is interest in taking a direct stake in

the bank. The investment would reportedly require minimum investment of €50mn per

party. News of potential interest in the state’s partial sale follows comments made in

the Belgian parliament by Finance Minister, Jan Jambon, last week, that the state plans a

partial sale of a 20% stake of the lender. Other interested parties (according to

unconfirmed reports published in l’Echo) in the stake of Belfius (A1/A/A-) are ING

(holdco: Baa1/A-/A+), Rabobank (Aa3/A+/AA-), Credit Agricole (A1/A+/AA-) and CVC.

Issues to consider

• No rules for the sale have currently been set out, so it’s unclear whether banks

would be eligible to participate in the sale, though Jambon expressed that the goal

would be “to attract a private investor with the experience who can ⁠necessary

actively contribute to Belfius's strategy and business plan”.

• Belfius has itself advocated for a partial privatisation for a number of years, with

CEO Raisière commenting on a call with investors last summer that the bank would

prefer a sale to private investors.

• We originally saw unconfirmed reports from L’Echo in summer 2025 which

indicated that the sale by the Belgian government of its 20-30% stake in Belfius

could be used to support defence spending.

• A potential cut in the sovereign’s stake in Belfius would not impact our credit

assessment of Belfius. We do see potential support for spreads should the stake to