Fortis

Please note that registrations have now been closed for Fortis' clients.

 

Deminor is defending the interests of both private and institutional investors having invested in Fortis' shares. First actions were taken in October 2008 and have led to the appointment of experts whose mission is to analyse the transactions end of September and beginning of October 2008 that led to the dismantling of the Fortis group. Deminor has also launched proceedings in the Netherlands in April 2009 together with the Dutch shareholders' association VEB against the Dutch State. Finally, Deminor has initiated in January 2010 a civil lawsuit before the Court of Commerce of Brussels against Fortis, in order to claim damages on behalf of its clients, regarding the misleading information that was communicated between 29 may 2007 and 3 October 2008. Further information on these proceedings is provided below.

 

If you are an institutional investor, and would like to receive more information in English, please do not hesitate to contact Charles Demoulin (charles.demoulin@deminor.com)

 

1.  Proceedings and investigation in Belgium

 

Deminor has initiated in January 2010 a civil lawsuit before the Court of Commerce of Brussels against Fortis, in order to claim damages on behalf of its clients for the losses incurred as a consequence of Fortis' misleading information. The losses suffered by investors in Fortis shares were reflected by the fall of its stock price.

 

After a sound analysis of the communication made by Fortis between 29 May 2007 and 3 October 2008, Deminor believes the information was misleading on several material aspects, and that investors decided to buy and/or hold Fortis shares based on this misleading information from Fortis.

 

Deminor believes that, in particular since the announcement of the launch of the takeover of ABN Amro up until the dismantling of the group in the autumn 2008, Fortis' communication was misleading on its subprime exposure, its dividend policy, its liquidity, its solvency and the consequences of the acquisition of ABN Amro.

 

The only defendant in this lawsuit so far is Fortis, the Belgian holding company, but the liability of other defendants might be considered.

 

Since Belgian legislation does not provide for a special collective action proceeding (such as a U.S. style class action), the individual shareholders' claims have been bundled into one single proceeding. This means that the court will hear one single case brought by all investors collectively.

 

As there is no US-style class action in Belgium, this means also that, should a court decide to award damages to investors, only those investors who participate in the action will benefit from such damages.

 

So far, no other lawsuits of this kind have been filed in Belgium on behalf of a large group of Fortis investors. However, already in 2008 Deminor filed a summary proceeding on behalf of a group of investors which led to the appointment of a body of experts, which is still in the process of reviewing the circumstances that have led to the dismantling of the group. Those experts have not published their report yet as they are still awaiting for documents and information from Fortis. In a recent judicial ruling of the Court of Commerce of Brussels and upon request of Deminor, Fortis has been instructed to communicate additional information to the experts. Deminor hopes that this investigation will be finalized by the end of this year.

 

2.  Proceedings in the Netherlands

 

Deminor International and the VEB (Vereniging van Effectenbezitters) filed a lawsuit in April 2009 before the court in Amsterdam against, amongst others, the Dutch State.

 

The legal action is based upon tort, i.e. the Dutch State has abused circumstances ("misbruik van omstandigheden") during the nationalization of Fortis, by threatening Fortis with drastic measures and forcing the sale of the Dutch insurance and banking business to the Dutch State on 3 October 2008. The consideration offered by the Dutch State was unfair and the transaction was not submitted to the shareholders for approval.

 

Furthermore, the Dutch State somehow participated to the circumstances that led to the carve-up of Fortis, by not respecting in a first place the agreement with the Belgian and Luxembourg State on the rescue plan of 27-28 September 2008 and not contributing the 4 billion EUR in Fortis Bank Nederland.

 

The action aims to obtain a declaration that the Dutch State has acted wrongfully, that it is liable and must pay the shareholders damages; and alternatively if these claims are denied, an injunction obliging Fortis to commence a legal action against the Dutch State to seek compensation for the shareholders.

 

If the Court decides to hold the Dutch State liable, Deminor will then have its clients join the procedure in a second stage in order to claim damages.