La Banque Postale on Monday publicly declared an interest in taking over Crédit Immobilier de France, while GE Capital has been cited in the French press as another possible bidder.

Concerns about CIF’s reliance on wholesale funding in February prompted Moody’s to put its rating of Caisse Centrale du Crédit Immobilier de France (3CIF) on review for downgrade. This led to a delay in the signing off of 3CIF and CIF Euromortgage accounts for 2011, which in turn resulted in a suspension of trading of the two issuers’ bonds for two weeks in May.

HSBC has been mandated to find a “long term solution” – widely expected to be a takeover or merger – and La Banque Postale said that it will look over a related dossier as part of this process.

The state-owned financial institution said that it is doing so in relation to objectives in its 2011-2015 strategy, under which it wants to expand its home loan business. To this end, La Banque Postale in October 2011 announced plans to establish a société de financement de l’habitat to help refinance such home loans.

The bank is also set to take a stake alongside the French state and Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations in public sector obligations foncières issuer Dexia Municipal Agency as part of a restructuring plan for the Dexia group that is being considered by the European Commission.

French newspaper Le Figaro has reported that GE Capital and two US funds are also eyeing CIF. GE Capital already has a presence in the French mortgage and covered bond markets through GE Money Bank and GE SCF.

Fitch on Friday affirmed the A rating of Crédit Immobilier de France Développment, the group holding company, but cut its Viability Rating (VR) from bbb+ to c. The rating agency said that it had affirmed the issuer rating at A because of its belief in the French state’s strong commitment to help CIFD refinance in the short term and to find a durable solution.

“Fitch considers the French state is likely to push for a sale to a solid banking group in the short to medium term,” it added, “and it would likely provide liquidity support to CIFD in the meantime.

“The downgrade of CIFD’s VR reflects Fitch’s view that the bank’s business model is no longer sustainable.”