Société Générale de Belgique
Former Belgian bank and holding company / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Société générale de Belgique (Dutch: Generale Maatschappij van België, lit. 'General Company of Belgium'; often referred to in Belgium simply as "Société Générale" or SGB) was an investment bank and, subsequently, an industrial and financial conglomerate in Belgium between 1822 and 2003. The banking element was split in 1935 and became Générale de Banque.[1] At its height in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Société Générale exercised significant control over large portions of the national economy of Belgium and the Belgian colonial empire.
The Société Générale was originally founded as an investment bank called the Société Générale des Pays-Bas pour favoriser l'industrie nationale or Algemeene Nederlandsche Maatschappij ter Begunstiging van de Volksvlijt (lit. 'General Netherlands Society for Advantage to the National Industry') by William I of the Netherlands in 1822 when Belgium was under his rule within the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. After the Belgian Revolution in 1830, it was the new country's dominant financial institution and remained so even after the creation of the National Bank of Belgium in 1850. Its investments in the national economy contributed to the rapid development of the Industrial Revolution in the country and it soon emerged at the head of a major congolomerate of industrial and financial institutions active in Belgium and the Belgian Congo.
The Société Générale went through multiple restructurings throughout the 20th century. In 1988, the Paris-based Suez Company took over the Société Générale through a competitive takeover bid. In 2003, Suez brought the Société Générale to an end by merging it with Tractebel, another of its subsidiaries.