Davis Polk advised the managers of an offering by Société Générale of $1.25 billion aggregate principal amount of undated deeply subordinated additional Tier 1 fixed-rate resettable callable notes. The notes, which are expected to qualify as Tier 1 capital of Société Générale, were issued pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Headquartered near Paris, Société Générale is one of the largest European financial services groups. Société Générale has more than 147,000 employees, based in 67 countries, and 31 million clients throughout the world. Société Générale operates three core businesses – namely, retail banking in France, international retail banking and corporate and investment banking. Société Générale is also a significant player in specialized financing and insurance, private banking, asset management and securities services.

The Davis Polk corporate team included partner John Banes and associates Andrew Rowe, Julian Veshi and Quentin Parmentier. The French corporate and regulatory team included counsel Juliette Loget and associates Jean-Christophe Devouge and Géraldine Fromage. European counsel John Taylor provided English law advice. Counsel Alon Gurfinkel and associate Omer Harel provided U.S. tax advice. Members of the Davis Polk team are based in the Paris and London offices.