Fortis may sell itself or unit: paper

Reuters ^ | 09/28/08 | Reed Stevenson and Philip Blenkinsop

[TigerLikesRooster]

Fortis may sell itself or unit: paper

By Reed Stevenson and Philip Blenkinsop

1 hour, 3 minutes ago

Troubled Belgian-Dutch financial group Fortis (FOR.BR) may sell itself or the ABN AMRO Dutch banking business it acquired last year, a Dutch financial daily reported on Sunday.

"The sale of ABN AMRO is being considered," the Financieele Dagblad reported on its Web site, citing an unnamed source.

Fortis's problems stem from its purchase last year of ABN AMRO with partners Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and Spain's Santander (SAN.MC) in a 70 billion euro ($102 billion) deal just as the credit crisis struck, slashing the value of banking assets.

Fortis has been weighed down by its 24 billion euro outlay in a market that is neither conducive to more of its capital increases nor willing to pay handsomely for the assets it wants to sell.

In London, regulators were in talks on the future of troubled lender Bradford & Bingley, raising the prospect that a second British bank could be nationalized.

BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) is a potentially interested buyer for all of Fortis or just ABN, while Dutch rivals ING (ING.AS) or Rabobank (RABN.UL) may be eyeing Fortis's private banking business, the Dutch newspaper added, citing to unnamed sources.

[TigerLikesRooster]

The liability of Fortis is three times the GDP of Belgium, while its leverage ratio is 33, lower than Deutsche Bank(50:1) and Barclay(60:1.)

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[randita]

Bears Stearns was 30:1 and it went belly up. FM and FM were 80:1. It’s disgusting.

[rabscuttle385]

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[FlyVet]

I didn't know Barclay was that bad. Yikes.

Did these Euro banks create their own problems, or did they buy bad US paper?