Italy's Banca Intesa has sold a 65% stake in its struggling fund management arm Nextra Investment Management to France's Crédit Agricole Asset Management for €850m ($1.1bn) in cash.

Intesa, advised by Lazard, will keep a 35% stake in the company and merge Nextra with Crédit Agricole's Italian asset management division. The combined fund manager becomes Italy's second largest and the fourth largest in Europe.