Fortis breakup hangs in the balance

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BRUSSELS, Dec. 15 (Chinese media) -- The future of financial services group Fortis appeared to be hanging in the balance following a Belgian court ruling on Friday which freezes the breakup of the former Dutch Belgian company.

Trading in the rump financial services group Fortis remains suspended in Amsterdam and Brussels on Monday, Dutch paper NRC Handelsblad reported Monday.

Trading will be suspended until "Fortis publishes a statement outlining the financial consequences of the court decision," the Belgian stock exchange said in a statement.

The Brussels appeal court on Friday ruled that Fortis must seek shareholder approval for the sale of assets to the Dutch and Belgian governments, and BNP Paribas for some 27 billion euros (1 euro = 1.34 U.S. dollars).

The court decision freezes all decisions taken by Fortis' boardin early October when Fortis Nederland was nationalised by the Dutch government and most of the Belgian assets were sold to BNP. The court has also set up a panel of five experts who will prepare for a shareholders meeting by Feb. 12.

"This is a major victory for shareholders that have been deprived of their most essential rights," Mischael Modrikamen, the lawyer representing some 2,000 small Fortis shareholders told news agency Bloomberg.

A spokesman for Dutch finance minister Wouter Bos said that the minister believed that the Belgian court ruling had no consequences for the Dutch position.

"The deal has been done. If Fortis shareholders don't agree, that is between Fortis and its shareholders. We are not involved," the spokesman said.

Dutch paper Het Financieele Dagblad reported Monday that lawyers believe the Dutch takeover of Fortis Nederland is irreversible because the shares have been handed over and the price paid, but it is a different case in Belgium because the shares have not yet changed hands there.