Fortis loses some $412 mln due to suspension of breakup

BRUSSELS, Dec. 24 (Chinese media) -- Belgian-Dutch financial services group Fortis said Wednesday it lost 295 million euros (about 412.35 million U.S. dollars) because of the court-ordered freeze of the sale of its Belgian assets to French bank BNP Paribas.

The company said in a statement that it acquired U.S. dollars and pounds sterling on Dec. 8 in preparation for the sale transactions. The money was intended to fund the envisaged structured credit portfolio entity, Royal Park Investments.

However, the Brussels appeal court ruled on Dec. 12 that shareholders must be consulted before the sale can go on. The transactions were frozen until the shareholders' meeting in February.

Given the current uncertainty, Fortis decided to sell the U.S. dollars and pounds sterling again, which had devaluated during the period. This resulted in a net loss of 295 million euros for Fortis.

The loss has reduced Fortis' net cash position from 2.1 billion to 1.8 billion euros and shareholders' equity from 6.7 billion to 6.4 billion euros, the company said. (1 U.S. dollar = 0.7154 euros)