in early 1999, paribas agreed to a 15-billion (usd $17-billion) buyout offer from société générale. not wanting to be left behind, however, rival banque nationale de paris made a hostile usd $21-billion counter-offer for paribas, and an unimaginable, separate usd 19.6-billion offer for societe generale (socgen). bnp’s three-way merger proposal would have created the world's largest bank.