LISBON (Reuters) -U.S. private equity fund Lone Star has agreed to sell its 75% stake in Novo Banco to French banking group BPCE in a deal that evaluates Portugal's fourth-largest lender at 6.4 billion euros ($7.39 billion), BPCE said on Friday.

The French bank's statement confirmed a report by Portuguese economic news outlet ECO on Thursday though the price tag is slightly lower than the around 7 billion euros valuation mentioned by ECO.

The deal should be completed during the first half of 2026, BPCE said.

($1 = 0.8660 euros)

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves in Lisbon and Mathieu Rosemain in Paris; editing by Inti Landauro)