French bank Societe Generale SA on Monday launched a heavily discounted 5.5 billion Euro (nearly US$8 billion) rights issue aimed at filling a capital gap it says was caused by trader Jerome Kerviel, while also lifting its net profit forecast for 2007, AP reported. The bank said net profit for 2007 is expected to be 947 million Euro (US$1.37 billion), although the figure is subject to a continued investigation into activities at SocGen investment bank and may be revised again. The rights issue came as the bank works to address fallout from Kerviel's massive unauthorized bets on European futures markets. The bank says it cost nearly 5 billion euros (more than $7 billion) to unwind Kerviel's positions. Societe Generale said in January that the trading loss would wipe out the bulk of its earnings for 2007 and that it expected net profit in the range of 600 million Euro(US$871 million) to 800 million Euro(US$1.16 billion).
