BNP Paribas shares slump on Fortis deal delay

Shares in BNP Paribas slumped Thursday after the French bank scrapped plans for a shareholder meeting on its acquisition of Belgium's troubled Fortis bank.

BNP was down 3.57 percent to euro33.00 ($48.23) a share by the close of trading in Paris Thursday, having fallen by as much as 8 percent in the course of the session.

With the Fortis NV deal blocked last week by Belgian judges, BNP Paribas called off a shareholder meeting scheduled for Friday to approve a shares issue to help finance the acquisition.

Fortis used to be the largest bank in Belgium and the Netherlands but was forced to repeatedly seek government help during tight credit conditions and was eventually carved up, selling off most of its business in Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The bank insisted Thursday that it was still interested in Fortis.

Spokesman Jonathan Mullen referred back to a statement by the bank, issued last week after the court ruling, saying that BNP Paribas "will examine all options including legal to close this deal efficiently and quickly."

The court's decision "in no way calls into question the interest of this deal," Mullen added, reading from the statement.

BNP Paribas had drawn up a 2-stage timetable for the acquisition. Stage 1 was to acquire a 54 percent stake of the unit Fortis Bank Belgium in shares. The second was to buy full ownership of the unit Fortis Insurance Belgium, in cash.

Friday's meeting was to get shareholder approval for the issue of 45 million new shares to help pay for the second stage of the deal.

But following the court ruling, the acquisition "cannot proceed as initially planned," so the shareholder meeting was canceled, the bank said.