The Dutch Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) confirms the decision of the Ondernemingskamer having concluded that there had been mismanagement at Fortis, including with respect to its communication to investors and the financial market
In a decision dated 6 December 2013, the Dutch Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) has confirmed the decision that had been rendered on 5 April 2012 by the Ondernemingskamer in court proceedings which purpose was to decide whether or not there had been mismanagement at Fortis NV (now Ageas NV) during the period of time between September 2007 and September 2008. This decision was based on a report drafted by experts appointed by the Ondernemingskamer and which had been published in June 2010 (see Deminor’s press release of 16 June 2010).
The Ondernemingskamer had severely criticized the way Fortis had managed its (future) solvency and the way it had communicated with investors and the financial market. On several aspects, the Ondernemingskamer had concluded that there was mismanagement. The court had also decided to annul the decision of the shareholders’ meeting of 29 April 2008 having granted discharge to the board of directors.
Fortis (Ageas) had filed an appeal against this decision before the Dutch Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has now dismissed the appeal and confirmed the decision of the Ondernemingskamer.
This confirmation by the Dutch Supreme Court comes on top of several decisions that have already been rendered in this case, by both market regulators and courts of the judiciary, and which have come to the conclusion that the information disclosed by Fortis (Ageas) during the period of time between the takeover of ABN Amro up until the dismantling of the group had been misleading.
This new decision reinforces the claims of investors participating in a court action in order to seek compensation for the losses they suffered in relation to the misleading information disclosed by Fortis during the aforementioned period. The group of investors federated around Deminor and involved in the civil court action before the Court of commerce of Brussels currently consists of around 5,000 retail investors and 500 institutional investors from various regions of the world.
Contact: drs@deminor.com
