Fortis

About Fortis

Fortis, a Benelux banking and insurance group, was broken up and nationalized in September 2008. Fortis had participated in a three way acquisition of ABN AMRO in 2007, overpaying dramatically. The ABN AMRO acquisition stretched Fortis balance sheet. When credit markets froze, Fortis could not refinance its debt. The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg each nationalized parts of Fortis. The Netherlands acquired Fortis Dutch operations plus ABN AMRO for 16.8 billion. BNP Paribas acquired Fortis Belgian banking and insurance operations. Shareholders were largely wiped out. A Belgian court later ruled that the breakup was mishandled. The Fortis collapse was the largest European bank failure of the 2008 crisis and demonstrated the folly of the ABN AMRO acquisition.