AFP - Paris prosecutors opened an investigation of the French bank Natixis on Monday after shareholders accused it of giving false information linked to its stock market listing in 2006, a court source said.

A group representing 90 minority shareholders accused the bank of "spreading misleading information, presenting inaccurate accounts and sharing out false dividends," according to the source.

A spokesman for the group representing the minority shareholders, Colette Neuville, told AFP: "Most of the shareholders complain about the conditions in which they were approached" to buy the shares.

"They judge themselves to have been badly informed or even misinformed."

Natixis, which specialises in investment and asset management activities, is a jointly owned subsidiary of the major French banks Caisse d'Epargne and Banque Populaire which are negotiating a merger.

Natixis last month announced a net loss of 2.8 billion euros (3.6 billion dollars) in 2008 after a punishing fourth quarter and said it would pay no dividend for the year.