Natexis, the investment banking arm of the French mutual bank Banques Populaires, is to auction off €600m ($495m) of publishing assets after its client Lagardère, reached agreement with European Union competition regulators to acquire part of Editis, the former publishing arm of Vivendi Universal.

The bank became the official owner of the assets after pioneering a takeover structure that reduces the risks to acquirers of extended probes, or regulatory vetoes, by competition regulators.