"“We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I am definitely a little worried.” "


Chinese premier Wen Jiabao 12th March 2009


""We have a financial system that is run by private shareholders, managed by private institutions, and we'd like to do our best to preserve that system."


Timothy Geithner US Secretary of the Treasury, previously President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.1/3/2009

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Fortis to be taken over by BNP Paribas

We last wrote about the travails and troubles at Fortis Bank Tuesday, July 01, 2008 Fortis Bank makes €8 billion provisions and Chairman talks of US "meltdown" ..Citigroup, GM ... Their shares had dramatically slumped to just about €10.

At the time Moody's reduced Fortis's financial strength rating to C+ from B-. Moody's said asset sales and a planned acquisition would erode capital. It also lowered its long-term debt and deposits ratings on Fortis to Aa3 from Aa2.

At the time the CEO was Jean-Paul Votron who is now looking for another job and Chairman Maurice Lippens, 62 is said to be looking for a new CEO and they have installed interim CEO Herman Verwilst since 1th July 2008. Filip Dierckx, is a 53 year old lawyer and with the bank since 1999 and is seen favourite for the top job. In his capacity as Chairman of the Fortis Bank Executive Board, he oversees and leads the overall integration of ABN Amro acquired activities

Today there has been a rally in bank stocks Fortis shares are up 2 % at €9.78 and BNP is up 3.4 % @ €66.64 .

This deal will create a bank with a dominant market position in France and the Benelux, he adds. In a completed series of deals which Morgan Stanley is hoping to help sell off Fortis Intertrust, a specialist trust management business, and Prime Fund Solutions, a division of Fortis Merchant and Private Banking which might raise US$2.6 Bn (€1.8bn. or less) .

Belgian newspaper De Standaard reports the sale is now a done deal but not who is the buyer..

UPDATE Friday - Financial Times reports Fortis have closed 3 hedge funds since the ABN Amro take over - better ustilise staff blah blah

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Bail-out hands Pimco $1.7bn payday"
"By Deborah Brewster in New York"

"Published: September 9 2008 19:49 | Last updated: September 9 2008 19:49"

"The Bill Gross-managed Pimco Total Return fund reaped a $1.7bn payday following the US government takeover of home loan giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

"While shareholders in Fannie and Freddie suffered deep losses, the world’s biggest bond fund saw its highest ever one-day rise against its benchmark index on Monday, benefiting from the bet made by Mr Gross on mortgage bonds issued by the agencies."...

http://tinyurl.com/62cq9a

Anonymous said...

"The Robber Baron and the Black Knight"...

http://tinyurl.com/5ezr9o

(C) Very Seriously Disorganised Criminals 2002/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 - copy anything you wish