PARIS-France’s second largest banking group BPCE has hired investment bank Rothschild for a strategic review of its ownership of property management services company Foncia. It abandoned plans for a sale of Foncia in July due to weak market conditions.

Foncia has attracted interest from investment funds and private equity firms, but offers fell short of BPCE's expectations. The bank acquired it for $1.8 billion at the peak of the real estate cycle in January 2007 but is now valued at only $1 billion in accounts, and the bank is said to be unwilling to sell below this price.

However, a bank spokesman said the future of Foncia remains under review. "We can confirm that BPCE is still undertaking a strategic review concerning Foncia," he said. But he denied a report that the sales process had already started.