Dexia has already received “interest” in the Grand Duchy-based investment fund unit from 40 firms, including about 20 informal offers, Mariani told the French financial daily Les Echos.

He expects to receive six official bids by the middle of next month and select the final buyer by July. None of the six firms are European, Mariani said in the interview.

In addition to Luxembourg, Dexia Asset Management has management centres in Brussels, Paris and Sydney, and operates in markets including Canada, Chile, Dubai and Switzerland. The firm said it had more than 544 employees and €79.3 billion in assets under management at the end of the first quarter this year.

Facing huge Greek sovereign debt exposure, Dexia Group began being broken up last autumn as part of a 90 billion euro rescue programme by the Belgian, French and Luxembourg states.

Dexia Asset Management is the last major Dexia unit to be sold as part of that restructuring plan.

The group’s retail and private banking operation in the Grand Duchy, Banque International à Luxembourg, was bought out by a Qatari royal family investment fund, with a small stake going to the Luxembourg government.

Dexia also sold its 50 percent stake in RBC Dexia--which provides back-office banking services to investment funds--to its Canadian joint venture partner.