Crédit Agricole SA said Tuesday that it could seal a deal to sell its troubled Greek bank within weeks, a move that would draw a line under its disastrous foray into Greece, but left open questions about the cost of such an exit for France's third-largest publicly listed bank, The Wall Street Journal reported. Crédit Agricole, which once had grand ambitions in southern Europe, has been badly bruised by the sovereign-debt crisis.

Barclays is set to assume control of debt-burdened French poultry group Doux next month, a union said on Thursday, enabling the UK bank to pursue a turnaround plan for the business supported by the family that controls the company, Reuters reported. Barclays is expected to take an 80 percent stake in Doux, which went into court administration in early June, in exchange for forgiving debt of 140 million euros ($175 million). The plan received implicit backing from a French court on Aug. 1. "The transformation of Doux's Barclays debt into 80 percent of its capital should be implemented on Sept.

As post-election euphoria wanes, French President Francois Hollande returns from vacation under pressure to show that beyond dismantling the legacy of his predecessor he can act decisively at home while grappling with recession in Europe, Reuters reported. Awaiting him are the crisis that still haunts the euro zone, fragile relations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French political opponents who accuse him of sunning himself on the beach while Syria slides into chaos.

Pilots for Air France-KLM have backed proposals to alter their contracts and working conditions as part of the airline's three-year restructuring plan, aimed at reducing operating costs and debt, Reuters reported. Labour union SNPL, which represents more than two-thirds of the pilots, said on Thursday 67 percent of its members had voted for the plan. The agreement reached with pilots does not include job cuts, but does feature voluntary transfers with bonuses to Air France-KLM's low-cost arm Transavia.

A chill is wafting over France’s business class as Mr. Hollande, the country’s first Socialist president since François Mitterrand in the 1980s, presses a manifesto of patriotism to “pay extra tax to get the country back on its feet again.” The 75 percent tax proposal, which Parliament plans to take up in September, is ostensibly aimed at bolstering French finances as Europe’s long-running debt crisis intensifies, the International Herald Tribune reported.

Air France-KLM said Monday its net loss ballooned to nearly €900 million ($1.1 billion) in the second quarter after it took a hefty charge to pay for restructuring that will see it shed about 10 percent of the airline's workforce, Bloomberg Businessweek reported on an Associated Press story. The Franco-Dutch airline operator said its net loss grew to €895 million in the three months to June 30, compared to a loss of €197 million a year earlier.

Two Chinese private equity funds are closing in on a deal to buy the asset management arm of Dexia, highlighting the interest of Asian buyers in European financial assets as banks look to restructure in the wake of the financial crisis, the Financial Times reported. If the sale of the business for about €500m is completed, it would mark the last stage of a break-up of the twice-bailed-out Belgo-French bank, one of the biggest European victims of successive financial crises during the past four years.

France wants the euro zone to move quickly on its latest steps toward integration in the currency union, French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported. "Our agenda is strong and it will be fast," he said in a brief interview. Mr. Moscovici, who met with officials Thursday in Washington, said last month's European summit marked "huge progress" in addressing the euro zone's troubles. "We made our first steps toward integration—a banking union, fiscal union, budgetary union and further on political union," he said.

The number of wealthy French people planning a move to London has climbed following François Hollande’s victory in the country’s presidential elections, according to London-based property agents, lawyers and wealth managers, the Financial Times reported. Knight Frank, the property agent, said sales of prime property to French buyers had risen 40 per cent in the three months to the end of June 2012 compared with the same period in 2011. Average prices paid by these buyers had risen from £1.1m to £3.9m.

Debt-burdened poultry group Doux, which went into administration last month, threatening the livelihood of 3,400 workers and 800 farmers in France, has attracted 11 takeover offers, unions at the firm said, Reuters reported. Bidders included rival poultry producers LDC and Tilly Sabco, co-operative Terrena, agribusiness firm La Financière Turenne La Fayette, and a consortium led by oilseed group Sofiproteol, union officials said. Doux's administrators had organised a bidding round with a deadline for offers on Thursday as part of efforts to rescue one of the world's largest poultry exporters.