Shareholders threaten legal action over Fortis bailout deal

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2008

BRUSSELS (AFP) — Fortis shareholders on Monday mulled legal action after French bank BNP Paribas agreed a deal with the Belgian and Luxembourg governments to carve up the troubled finance group.

"It is an outrage that management, at a time where more than 80 percent of the value of Fortis has disappeared and shareholders of Fortis have been consistently misinformed, is not willing to live up to its legal obligations to shareholders and is not willing to inform shareholders in a proper way," the Euroshareholders said in a statement.

The umbrella group of European shareholders associations said the deal, under which BNP will take a majority stake in Fortis's Belgian and Luxembourg operations, "reduces the value of the Fortis share to around 3.5 euros per share."...