China’s Ping An Insurance is in the final stage of talks to buy a major stake in the asset management arm of Belgian-Dutch financial services group Fortis, sources told Reuters on Friday.

Fortis said last week that it was about to make a deal that would increase its solvency but did not give further details.
Fortis said earlier this month that its Q4 profits had halved following a €1.5bn write-down due to the sub-prime crisis.