Societe Generale is picking apart Bache – a commodities house and the last link to a historic Wall Street name – in another sign of how trading in raw materials has fallen on hard times.

Disappointed in Bache's poor performance, executives at Jefferies put the unit on the block, eliciting interest from the French bank. But SocGen is just taking some pieces of the business for a nominal sum, setting off a scramble among Jefferies Bache's employees and clients, people familiar with the situation said.