Ageas SA/NV said Dec. 12 that it reached an amended settlement agreement with a group of claimant organizations, connected to civil proceedings related to the former Fortis group over certain events that took place in 2007 and 2008, having taken into account the Amsterdam Court of Appeal's concerns regarding the settlement.
As previously disclosed, Ageas added a "final" additional amount of €100 million to raise the overall budget for the settlement to €1.3 billion from €1.20 billion.
Under the terms of the amended settlement agreement, so-called active and nonactive claimants will be entitled to the same base amounts of compensation for their damages. Ageas noted that compensation for damages and the additional compensation component have been equalized for all eligible Fortis shareholders, while active claimants will be entitled to additional cost compensation.
The revised structure takes into consideration the Dutch court's concern regarding the distribution of the original €1.20 billion settlement amount and the lack of solidarity in case of dilution, according to the Belgian insurer.
The amended settlement will be submitted by Ageas and the claimant organizations to the court on the same day, with the request to declare it binding for all eligible Fortis shareholders.
The Belgian company added that the settlement does not impact its results or solvency position, as all charges were provisioned and accounted for in its third-quarter results.
