The head of Societe Generale, the French bank valued at some €72 billion (£49 billion), has identified eight banks with whom it could strike a possible merger deal, according to a newsletter from the French CGT trade union.

The CGT union said Daniel Bouton, the SocGen chairman, had held a meeting with five national trade unions two days ago, at which he said there were eight possible partners for SocGen, including Italian bank UniCredit but not France's BNP Paribas

The CGT said: “Daniel Bouton clearly laid out a list, pointing out that two-way talks had been held with European banks.”

It added that Bouton said a deal with UniCredit could be “intelligent” and that the SocGen board would discuss the situation in due course.

The CGT union said it feared job cuts. Officials at SocGen had no immediate comment.

Alessandro Profumo, the UniCredit chief executive, yesterday stoked speculation a deal was in the offing by issuing a statement in response to the soaring share price of Rome-based Capitalia, in which Dutch bank ABN Amro has a 31 per cent stake - saying it was looking regularly at takeovers and that both Capitalia and SocGen could be targets.

He told a conference call yesterday: "Anything that can create value must be considered. If we were and are having contacts with SocGen, that means that on our calculation this can be a value accretive option."

A deal for Société Générale would be UniCredit's biggest ever deal, topping its €15.4 billion acquisition of Germany's HVB in 2005. It would also allow the French bank access to fast-growing eastern European markets.

Analysts expect a wave of pan-European bank mergers following the rival bids for ABN Amro from Barclays and a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland.

Capitalia shares were also up today on news that UniCredit's Mr Profumo and Capilia chairman Cesare Geronzi had met today and after Mr Geronzi reiterated his view that the company needed to get involved in European bank consolidation.

Last month, when rumours of a Unicredit bid for SocGen first surfaced, UniCredit said it had contacted SocGen about exploring growth opportunities, but denied being in merger talks.

SocGen shares closed up 4 per cent at €155.70.

There has been talk in the past of a possible bid for SocGen from Citigroup of the US and of a tie-up between SocGen and BNP Paribas, although BNP has since ruled this out.

Some analysts believe the acquisition of SocGen could achieve some €8.4 billion in costs savings for a major foreign bank.

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