Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking agreed Tuesday to purchase some of RBS Sempra Commodities’ North American natural gas and power assets and to hire 130 of its energy traders. Financial details were not disclosed.

The transaction, which is expected to close in the coming weeks, was executed between SG Energie, a Societe Generale subsidiary, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Sempra Energy, RBS Sempra Commodities LLP and Sempra Energy Trading LLC.

Most of the North American assets held by RBS Sempra Commodities were sold late last year to a unit of JP Morgan Chase & Co. (see Daily GPI, Dec. 2, 2010). The trading unit was formed in 2008 by joint venture partners Sempra Energy and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

“With this new development of our commodities business, we will be able to offer the full range of solutions to our North American clients in the energy sector,” said SG Americas CEO Diony Lebot. “We are very excited that our clients will benefit from the expertise of Jacqueline Mitchell and Michael Goldstein from RBS Sempra, as well as from the addition of the rest of RBS Sempra’s talent and technology.”

Included in the transaction is the purchase of an information technology benchmark platform that has been developed over the last 20 years, according to Societe Generale. In addition, more than 130 gas and power personnel have been offered jobs in the bank’s existing commodity market unit.

These developments will enable SG Energie to provide clients with “a complete global energy offering that combines gas, electricity, coal and oil solutions to respond to client needs for price risk management, physical energy solutions, physical optimization, supply of physical gas and power and structured solutions,” officials said.

Mitchell and Goldstein are to act as co-CEOs of SG Energie to integrate North American trading activities. They will report to Gonzague Bataille, Societe Generale’s head of commodity markets in the Americas. Societe Generale’s existing commodity market activities are headed globally by Edouard Neviaski.

“Building on over 20 years of experience in the energy sector, the integration of the RBS Sempra Energy trading business and our development in this sector in Europe, uniquely positions us to assist our clients with tailor-made solutions combining our financing and hedging expertise with new physical transaction capabilities,” said Societe Generale CEO Michel Peretie. “Our ambition is to be among the global leaders in the energy market.”

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