Dutch issue state bonds to finance Fortis nationalization
Amsterdam - The Dutch government has issued state bonds worth 8.64 billion euros (11.76 billion dollars), the government said in a statement on Monday.
Part of the issue will be used to help finance the takeover of the Dutch division of former Belgian-Dutch bank and insurance giant Fortis.
On Friday, the Dutch nationalized the entire Dutch Fortis division, paying some 16.8 billion euros.
On Monday, financial analysts from SNS Securities, Petercam and Dresdner Kleinwort calculated the stock value of Fortis at the Dutch exchanges around 8.225 billion euros.
If accurate, then each of the 2.35 billion shares is worth 3.5 euros per share.
As the stock exchanged closed on Friday, Fortis was still worth 5.41 per share.
Fortis has been transferred almost entirely into the hands of the Dutch government, Belgium, Luxembourg and the French bank BNP Paribas.
This leaves the original Fortis holding only with the international insurance activities (worth 1.4 billion euros) and a 66-per-cent-interest in bonds, worth 6.8 billion euros, The holding still has some
100 million euros in cash. (dpa)