Nearly ten years after the Fortis downfall, wronged shareholders of the Belgian-Dutch Bank Insurer will recuperate part of their stakes. The Amsterdam Court of Justice decided Friday to declare “binding’’ the payment project concluded between Ageas, Fortis legal successor, and some wronged shareholders’ associations.
This payment, the most important of its type in Europe, forced Ageas, Fortis Holding’s legal successor, to place 1.3 billion euros on the table to compensate the shareholders and to close definitively this affair inherited from the Fortis dismantling in 2008.
According to estimations, around 200,000 wronged shareholders, who owned Fortis shares between 28 February 2007 and 14 October 2008, are entitled to compensation. Should they accept this payment, the shareholders will have to commit themselves to never initiate again any legal action on this matter.
The Dutch magistrates’ green light opens the way for a large-scale operation of compensation for the wronged shareholders. Ageas has already made agreements with the banks the documents which will be made available. Ageas might begin to pay the compensations this year. The amount that will be spent will ultimately depend on the number of requests actually filed.
The Brussels Times
