C.Agricole to sell 5.2 percent of Spain's Bankinter

PARIS (Reuters) - French bank Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) said on Thursday that it planned to cut its 15.1 percent stake in Spain's Bankinter (BKT.MC) by about a third.

The bank will own about 9.9 percent of the Spanish lender once it has sold the 29.3 million shares, Credit Agricole said in a statement.

"This offering is a private placement to institutional investors, as part of an accelerated bookbuilding process," the French bank said.

Bankinter posted a 31 percent drop in 2012 net profit earlier on Thursday and warned that its bad loans could hit 5 percent of total loans this year, up from 4.28 percent at the end of 2012.

(Reporting by James Regan; editing by Mark John)