Individual investors never agreed with the dismantling of Fortis and are now asking for compensation. The francophone court of Brussels will handle the case with more than 5 billion euro at stake. The issues under investigation are the dismantling of Fortis and the sale of a part of the former bank.
More than 1000 shareholders together owning more than 10 million shares are pursuing a class action. The case is the first to be concerned with the dismantling of Fortis and should have started last year. Mischaël Modrikamen, the lawyer of the individual investors is calling for the invalidation of the Fortis General Assembly that took place on the 28th of April 2009 and where the sale of the bank was approved. Since this is impossible he demands compensation for damages, claiming 1.8 billion for the undervaluation of the insurance contracts and 3.3 billion in compensation for the sale of the bank well below market-price, amongst others. All of this amounts to a staggering sum of 5 billion euros. Mischaël Modrikamen holds that this pales in comparison to the 9 billion fine which was paid to the US authorities earlier this year.
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