Ping An: put Fortis break-up on agenda

Chinese insurance group Ping An, which has a 4% stake in Fortis, is supporting other investors in their efforts to put the dismantling of the financial services company on the agenda of shareholders meetings planned for December, the NRC reports.

Ping An has lost €1.9bn on the Fortis stake it acquired last year because of the collapse of the company’s share price, the paper says. Its plans to set up an asset management joint venture with Fortis were scrapped earlier this year.
According to Fortis’ statute book, shareholders which control at least 1% of the shares outstanding can have items placed on the agenda.
Several legal procedures are also under way in an effort to get the break-up of the company reversed.
Most of the old Fortis is now in the hands of the Dutch government and French bank BNP Paribas.