Chinese insurer and small shareholders may stop BNP sale
China's Ping An Insurance, has said it will vote against a revised bid by France's BNP Paribas to take over the collapsed Belgian bank, according to Agence France Presse.
"Since September 2008, the decisions to sell assets were driven by the Belgian government and have not only destroyed Fortis' value, but have also severely impaired Fortis shareholders' interests as a whole. Such transactions breached the governance principles of Fortis and, as such, Ping An of China disagrees with the original transactions," the company said in a statement. It owns 5% of Fortis.
Lawyers for small shareholders, who 10%, have also threatened to vote against the sale of the bank's Belgian assets to BNP and the nationalisation of Fortis' insurance business in the Netherlands.
BNP has signalled that it could abandon its bid for Fortis if shareholders failed to agree to a recently revised takeover deal this week.
Shareholders will vote Wednesday on three operations:
- The Dutch government's nationalisation of Fortis' activities in the Netherlands
- Belgium's nationalisation of the country's Fortis Bank
- An agreement in which BNP would buy 75% of Fortis Bank.
"Ping An believes that other options should have been, and still can be, explored in order to sustain the operation of the business and optimise value for shareholders,” is said.
