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FORTIS: Fortis publishes shareholder circular

^{Published on 2009-01-29 23:56:56, Last Modified on 2009-01-29 23:57:40 - Market Wire}
 

BRUSSEL, BELGIUM--(Marketwire - January 30, 2009) -

Today, the shareholder circular has been made available on [ www.fortis.com ]. The purpose of this document is to provide to the shareholders of Fortis SA/NV further details on the agreements entered into by Fortis SA/NV and certain of its subsidiaries in implementation of the decisions of the Board of Directors of Fortis SA/NV of 3, 5 and 6 October 2008. The shareholder circular should enable the shareholders to vote in an informed manner on the proposed resolutions submitted for approval to the shareholders' meeting of Fortis SA/NV on 11 February 2009 following the ruling of the Court of Appeal of Brussels on 12 December 2008.

Fortis had postponed the publication of the shareholder circular awaiting the publication of the interim report of the committee of experts, which was published 26 January and also pending the negotiations between Fortis, the Belgian State and BNP Paribas which started on 27 January.

Early this morning Fortis, the Belgian State and BNP Paribas have agreed on revised terms on the transactions concluded in October 2008. The Fortis Board has agreed on those new terms, subject to the approval by the Fortis shareholders. Fortis refers to the joint press release published earlier today for details on the terms.

Fortis will publish an addendum to its shareholder circular as soon as possible reflecting the details of the transaction and its estimated impact on Fortis' financials as well as the implications on the agenda of the upcoming shareholders' meetings.

Fortis holding (Fortis SA/NV and Fortis N.V.) consists of (1) Fortis Insurance Belgium (2) Fortis Insurance International, and (3) financial assets and liabilities of various financing vehicles. The international insurance activities (Fortis Insurance International) are located in the UK, France, Hong Kong, Luxembourg (Non-Life), Germany, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and in joint ventures in Luxembourg (Life), Portugal, China, Malaysia, India and Thailand. Fortis holding is not involved in banking activities.

 Press Contacts: Brussels: +32 (0)2 228 82 92 Utrecht: +31 (0)30 226 32 61 Investor Relations: Brussels: +32 (0)2 565 53 78 Utrecht: +31 (0)30 226 65 66 

PDF version press release: [ http://hugin.info/134212/R/1286007/288534.pdf ]

Shareholder circular: [ http://hugin.info/134212/R/1286007/288535.pdf ]

This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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