Fortis Bank will own 25% of insurance operation, not 10%
The Belgian government and France's biggest bank, BNP Paribas have revised their planned break-up of struggling Fortis, agencies report.
BNP Paribas would still buy 75% of Fortis Bank, but Fortis Bank would now acquire a 25% stake in Fortis Insurance Belgium from Fortis Holding for €1.375bn, with the financing guaranteed by BNP. The original deal was for just 10%.
"We do feel relatively comfortable that we will get a positive vote on this deal because we definitely show that compared to the deal presented to shareholders on 11 February it is better," Reuters quoted Fortis Chairman Jozef De Mey.
The revisions, which will allow Fortis Holding to continue as an insurance company and will lower its exposure to a pool of toxic assets, are designed to win over some of its angry investors who narrowly blocked the deal last month.
