Fortis collapse settlement valued at €1.2 billion

Ageas, the insurer left over after the collapse of Dutch-Belgian financial group Fortis, reached a 1.2 billion euro settlement agreement with Fortis shareholders. The money will be used to settle all outstanding legal claims of damages suffered when Fortis collapsed in 2007 and 2008, Reuters reports. The agreement was made with Stichting FortisEffect, Deminor, SICAF and VEB. Other claimants are also invited to join the settlement proceedings. The group can not yet say how much each shareholder will receive. This depends on how many people file a claim and when the shares were bought. Fortis ended up in money troubles after buying the Dutch operations of ABN Amro for 24 billion euros just before the financial crisis struck. The group was rescued and split up into insurer Ageas and a banking arm, which was taken over by BNP Paribas. A spokesperson for VEB told broadcaster NOS that they are pleased with the settlement. "The settlement announced today is an important step towards compensation of tens of thousands of aggrieved shareholders."