BNP Paribas Fortis

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The BNP Paribas Fortis SA from Fortis Bank Belgium SA emerged. Since mid-May 2009 it has been owned 75 percent by the major French bank BNP Paribas and 25 percent by the Belgian state (state holding SFPI / FPIM).

At some point the Belgian bank had over 37,000 employees, including over 18,000 in Belgium. The bank is based in Brussels / Belgium .

development

As part of the financial crisis , Fortis Holding found itself in a massive financial crisis from mid-September 2008. On September 29, 2008, the Belgian state took over a 49.9 percent stake in Fortis Bank Belgium SA for 4.7 billion euros. In addition, the Belgian state acquired another 50 percent plus 1 share in Fortis Bank from October 6 to 10, 2008 for a further 4.7 billion euros. A stake of 99.93 percent in Fortis Bank is held by the Belgian state through SFPI / FPIM (Société Fédérale de Participations et d'Investissement / Federale Participatie- en Investeringsmaatschappij SA / NV).

Takeover by BNP Paribas

A 75 percent stake in Fortis Bank owned by the Belgian state holding company SFPI / FPIM was transferred to the major French bank BNP Paribas on May 12, 2009 . A remaining share of 25 percent remains with the Belgian state holding company SFPI / FPIM. Fortis Bank Belgium SA was renamed BNP Paribas Fortis on May 15, 2009 .

Structural data

Fortis Bank Belgium has over 37,000 employees, including over 18,000 in Belgium.

Divisions

In the private customer segment, Fortis Bank Belgium also operated as Fintro .

Fortis Merchant Banking was the global division of Fortis Bank. Merchant Banking provided financial services to large corporations and institutions.

Fortis Investment Management SA comprised the investment division and asset management. It belongs to Fortis Bank Belgium SA.

Fortis Commercial Banking and Fortis Lease Group Services SA also belong to Fortis Bank Belgium.

Fortis Lease Group

The Fortis Lease Group SA is an international leasing company in Brussels / Belgium . Fortis Lease Group CEO is Claude Crepin. Fortis Lease Group is part of Fortis Bank Belgium SA .

Fortis Lease goes back to the Eurolease founded in 1962 . In 2000, Eurolease, ACE Leasing and ES Finance became Fortis Lease Belgium . In 2000, FMN Lease and Generale Bank Lease became Fortis Lease Netherlands . After the year 2000, numerous takeovers and foundations in numerous European countries (France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Turkey etc.) followed. Fortis Lease is active in 22 countries.

Activities in Germany

Fortis has been active in Germany since 1920 through the Belgian Generale Bank with headquarters in Cologne, which was taken over in 1998/99. After the takeover of Von Essen GmbH & Co. KG Bankgesellschaft , the concept of “credit shops” has been implemented under the Credit4me brand since June 2006 .

The remaining Fortis operating shares (Fortis Bank, Fortis Investments and Von Essen Bank) were temporarily taken over by the Belgian state and continued to operate for the time being.

Takeover plans for BNP Paribas

On October 6, 2008, the French bank BNP Paribas announced that it would take over 75 or 67 percent of the Belgian and Luxembourgish Fortis for 14.7 billion euros. Belgium and Luxembourg thus each retain the blocking minority in the Belgian and Luxembourg parts of the bank. BNP Paribas pays 9 billion euros of the purchase price by issuing new shares. Belgium and Luxembourg will thus become 11.6 and 1.1 percent shareholders in BNP Paribas, respectively. The Luxembourg banking branch combines its name BGL (Banque Générale du Luxembourg), which was given up in 2005, with that of BNP Paribas. Fortis' insurance business will be wholly owned by BNP Paribas.

BNP Paribas will only take over 75 percent of the banking activities and 10 percent of the insurance activities of the Belgian Fortis branch. After numerous Fortis small shareholders disagreed with this rescue plan, they moved to a Belgian court. This court ruled in December 2008 that all transactions must be suspended pending a proper vote of the shareholders. As the Belgian Court of Cassation stated in a report, the government tried to prevent this decision. Prime Minister Yves Leterme had to resign on December 22, 2008 due to the accusation of influencing the court . A decision was due at the Annual General Meeting on February 11, 2009.

At the general meeting on February 11, 2009, a narrow majority of 50.3 percent of the shareholders voted against a split of Fortis Holding and against a partial sale to the Belgian state. A resale of the Belgian Fortis bank to BNP Paribas had thus failed.

In Belgium, shareholders' representatives have now called for new negotiations between the Belgian state and BNP Paribas. They hoped for better terms for a sale.

Patrick Wautelet, law professor at the University of Liège, feared that nationalization of Fortis could trigger claims for damages by the Chinese investor Ping An (Ping An owns 4.81 percent). This would be in accordance with the investment protection agreement concluded between China and the Union économique belgo-luxembourgeoise .

The Belgian government and BNP Paribas agreed on a new takeover plan on March 7, 2009. 75 percent of the Belgian bank should be taken over. The remaining 25 percent of the bank will remain with the Belgian state. The BNP wants to pay 10.3 billion euros, but mostly in shares. The Belgian state should get 11.6 percent of the BNP shares.

Fortis Bank Belgium was to acquire a 25 percent stake in Fortis Insurance Belgium . The financing of the 1.375 billion euros should be guaranteed by BNP Paribas. BNP Paribas would also take over the deposits of Fortis Bank of 580 billion euros. At the 1st general meeting on April 28, 2009 in Ghent, 73 percent of the shareholders voted for a takeover by BNP Paribas. 26.15 percent of the capital was represented. At the 2nd Annual General Meeting on April 29, 2009 in Utrecht, 78 percent of the shareholders voted for a takeover by BNP Paribas.

The lawyer Mischaël Modrikamen stated on May 12th, 2009 that he had filed a 25-page complaint against the takeover of Fortis Bank by BNP Paribas to the EU Commission on behalf of numerous shareholders. The EU Commission has yet to approve the Fortis takeover.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b BNP Paribas Fortis - press release of May 15, 2009
  2. ↑ www.holding.fortis.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.holding.fortis.com  
  3. ↑ www.holding.fortis.com ( Memento of the original from March 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Page 3 above (PDF file)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.holding.fortis.com
  4. ↑ www.fortisbank.com
  5. ↑ Fortis Bank press release, May 12, 2009
  6. ↑ www.merchantbanking.fortis.com ( Memento of the original from November 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.merchantbanking.fortis.com
  7. ↑ www.fortisinvestments.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.fortisinvestments.com  
  8. ↑ www.fortisinvestments.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Pages 49–50 (PDF file)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.fortisinvestments.com  
  9. ↑ www.fortislease.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.fortislease.com  
  10. ↑ http://www.fortislease.com/int_en/content/aboutus/aboutus_history_par_en.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.fortislease.com  
  11. ↑ http://www.ftd.de/unternehmen/finanzdienstleister/:Kapitalmangel-Fortis-schlie%DFt-Deutschland-T Nahrungsmittel/ 460857.html ( Memento from August 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  12. ↑ www.de.fortis.com ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.de.fortis.com
  13. ^ The French take over Fortis ( memento from August 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), Financial Times Deutschland, October 7, 2008
  14. ↑ www.fortis.com (PDF file)
  15. ↑ http://www.ftd.de/unternehmen/finanzdienstleister/:Aufspaltung-auf-der-Kippe-Gro%DFaktion%E4r-stell-Fortis-Verkauf-in-Frage/471880.html ( Memento from August 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  16. ↑ Michael Stabenow: Shareholders snub the board. In: FAZ.net . February 11, 2009, accessed December 16, 2014 .
  17. ↑ Fortis
  18. ↑ State aid: Green light for additional aid measures from Belgium and Luxembourg in favor of Fortis
  19. ↑ http://www.ftd.de/politik/europa/:Debatte-um-HRE-Wie-Staaten-anderswo-enteignen/475109.html?p=2 ( Memento from August 3, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  20. ↑ www.holding.fortis.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.holding.fortis.com  
  21. ↑ L'effrayant pouvoir du traité belgo-chinois Carte blanche parue dans le journal "L'Echo", February 13, 2009 (French)
  22. ↑ a b Fortis Deal: A New Attempt. In: handelsblatt.com. March 8, 2009, accessed December 16, 2014 .
  23. ↑ Shareholder Circular  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from March 16, 2009@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.holding.fortis.com  
  24. ↑ Reuters - BNP threatens to withdraw its offer to purchase part of Fortis on April 11, 2009
  25. ↑ Manager Magazin - Belgian Fortis shareholders vote to sell to BNP Paribas  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated April 28, 2009@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.manager-magazin.de  
  26. ↑ Reuters - Scandal at Fortis-AGM - shareholders throw shoes at Chairman on April 28, 2009
  27. ↑ www.holding.fortis.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.holding.fortis.com  
  28. ^ Reuters - Fortis shareholders in Netherlands bless sale to BNP Paribas from April 29, 2009
  29. ↑ Reuters - Fortis shareholders file complaint against deal with BNP dated May 12, 2009 with EU

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