The Belgian judicial experts that were appointed at the request of Deminor to investigate the break-up of the former Fortis group have filed their final report.

In November 2008, at the request of Deminor, the President of the Brussels Commercial Court appointed three judicial experts to investigate the circumstances surrounding the break-up of the former Fortis group. Their mission in carrying out this investigation included gaining a better understanding of how the financial conditions surrounding the transfer of Fortis assets to the Dutch and Belgian authorities and to BNP Paribas in October 2008 transpired; to provide greater transparency with respect to the valuation methods applied to these assets; and to investigate whether in depth due diligence took place preceding the sale of the Fortis assets.

The final report filed by the experts on 18 November includes a detailed chronological account of the facts between 26 September 2008 and 6 October 2008; a description of documents and information available during this period to determine the sales price of the assets; an outline of current valuation methods; and a review of the valuation documents relating to Fortis Bank and to the Dutch banking and insurance assets of the former Fortis group. 

Following expert reports that were published previously[1]:
#_ftn1, and the 2 judgments of the Amsterdam court rendered earlier this year[2]:
#_ftn2, Ageas welcomes the publication of this report as a further step forward in clarifying the circumstances surrounding the  break-up of the former Fortis group.

Ageas acknowledges the fact that in many respects the findings of the report largely coincide with the conclusions of the earlier reports and court decisions referred to above. However, Ageas does not agree with all interpretations and conclusions provided by the experts. 

With a view to maximum transparency towards all of the shareholders and investors, Ageas has decided to publish the full report on www.ageas.com:
http://www.ageas.com/ (http://www.ageas.com/Documents/Rapport_experts_18-11-2011.pdf:
http://www.ageas.com/Documents/Rapport_experts_18-11-2011.pdf). However, in order to respect the privacy legislation, the identity of the individuals mentioned in the report was masked. The text is only available in French.

Ageas is an international insurance company with a heritage spanning more than 180 years. Ranked among the top 20 insurance companies in Europe, Ageas has chosen to concentrate its business activities in Europe and Asia, which together make up the largest share of the global insurance market. These are grouped around four segments: Belgium, United Kingdom, Continental Europe and Asia and served through a combination of wholly owned subsidiaries and partnerships with strong financial institutions and key distributors around the world. Ageas operates successful partnerships in Belgium, UK, Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, China, Malaysia, India and Thailand and has subsidiaries in France, Germany, Hong Kong and UK. It is the market leader in Belgium for individual life and employee benefits, as well as a leading non-life player, through AG Insurance, and in the UK, it has a strong presence as the third largest player in private car insurance and the over 50's market. It employs more than 13,000 people and has annual inflows of almost EUR 18 billion.

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www.ageas.com


[1]:
#_ftnref1 See press releases of 27 January 2009 and 16 June 2010.

[2]:
#_ftnref2 See press release of 18 May 2011.

Pdf version of the press rlelease:
http://hugin.info/134212/R/1565230/485727.pdf


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Source: Ageas via Thomson Reuters ONE
HUG#1565230