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SEPTEMBER 2023: COMPLETION OF THE CLAIMS ADMINISTRATION AND OF THE FORTIS SETTLEMENT

The administration of the claims in the Fortis settlement is now complete and the settlement has come to a complete end. Computershare’s role as Claims Administrator is over and the Dispute Committee is no longer operational.

This website is being maintained for a period of time for historical purposes only. Other than the information below about outstanding amounts payable, the information on this webpage may therefore not be up to date.

OUTSTANDING AMOUNTS PAYABLE

Some claimants provided inaccurate bank account details and one or more payments owed to them could not be made. In order to obtain their payment, those claimants should not contact the Dutch Consignatiekas (which, contrary to what was initially contemplated, is not involved) and should instead contact Ageas as soon as possible and in any event prior to 30 September 2027. Requests for payments should be addressed to [email protected] (or, if by post, to ageas SA/NV, Corporate Administration, Avenue du Boulevard 21, 14th floor, 1210 Brussels, Belgium) and should be accompanied with:

  • A copy of the communication (letter or email) sent by Computershare, the former Claims Administrator, that notified you of your Final Claim Amount and of the amount of the last instalment payable to you, if any. These communications were in most cases sent on 24 June 2022. This communication contains the unique claim number assigned to your claim and Ageas needs this claim ID to process your request for payment.

  • Proof of your identity (e.g., copy of your ID card).

  • Your bank account details (IBAN number).

  • If you are not the person to whom Computershare’s communication was addressed (e.g. because that addressee passed away and you are his or her heir), evidence of your entitlement to receive the payment (e.g., a deed or certificate of inheritance/acte ou certificat d’hérédité/akte of attest van erfopvolging of verklaring van erfrecht).

JUNE 2022: THE END OF THE PROCEDURE

All together you filed a total of 301,355 claims. Computershare, our Claims Administrator, and the Dispute Committee have now completed the review of almost all of these claims. At the end of June 2022 all claimants with valid claims will be informed of their Final Claim Amount, i.e. how much money they are entitled to under the settlement. Most of that money (some €1,199 million) has been distributed already but many claimants will still receive a final instalment. These last payments will normally be made on or about 25 August 2022.

If you are a claimant with an accepted claim, you are kindly requested to be patient and to not call or email the call centre to get information about your specific, individual claim before you have received a notice (or Final Determination letter) at the end of June 2022 setting out your Final Claim Amount and the amount of your final instalment, if any. The call centre will not be able to provide you the details of your claim before all claimants have been notified. We thank you for your patience. If you ordinarily receive your Fortis settlement related information by email (as opposed to by regular post) please check your inbox as well as your spam or junk folder to ensure you have not missed any communication.

In the meantime, you can find general information below on how the payment percentages for each of the four compensation buckets (Buyer Shares, Holder Shares, Compensation Add-On and Cost Addition) were calculated; these percentages will be used to determine your Final Claim Amount on the basis of your Provisional Claim Amount.

HOW MUCH WILL YOU RECEIVE?

The settlement provides that a fixed amount of €1,308,500,000 will be shared between some 279,000 claimants with valid claims. This total amount comprises four buckets, respectively in respect of the Buyer Shares, the Holder Shares, the Compensation Add-On and the Cost Addition. If you submitted a valid claim, you were informed already (at some time between August 2018 and now) of your Provisional Claim Amount, which was a provisional calculation of the value of your claim. The notice you received also showed how your Provisional Claim Amount is split between the four buckets. The calculation was provisional because it could not yet reflect certain possible upward or downward adjustments to the buckets pursuant to the Settlement Distribution Plan.

Your Final Claim Amount and your final instalment, if any, depended on the total volume of all valid claims in each bucket. The calculation of your Provisional Claim Amount assumed that we would receive claims with a total value that exactly matched the size of the bucket – this was most unlikely but it was the best way forward at the time and it was the approach required by the Settlement Agreement. We now know the actual volume of all accepted claims:

  • In the Buyer Shares bucket, the actual volume of the accepted claims (€309.4 million) is less than the size of the bucket (€507.7 million). You will thus receive 100% of your Provisional Claim Amount in this bucket. The excess money in the bucket (€198.3 million) is transferred to the Holder Shares bucket.

  • In the Holder Shares bucket, the actual volume of the accepted claims is much more than the size of the bucket, even after adding the excess money transferred from the Buyer Shares bucket (€572.6 + €198.3 million). You will thus receive 77.48% of your Provisional Claim Amount in this bucket.

  • In the Compensation Add-On bucket, the actual volume of the accepted claims is also more than the size of the bucket (€76.2 million) and you will receive 61.62% of your Provisional Claim Amount.

  • In the Cost Addition bucket, the actual volume of the accepted claims is less than the size of the bucket (€152 million) and you will receive 120% of your Provisional Claim Amount.

The exact percentages are:

Buyer Shares 100%
Holder Shares 77.47907101%
Compensation Add-On 61.61642999%
Cost Addition 120%

In any event, if you submitted your claim by 31 December 2018, your entitlement to compensation for the four buckets together will not be less than 70% of your Provisional Claim Amount and you may keep any overpayment.

The largest part, or maybe all, of your Final Claim Amount has been paid to you already: we progressively made partial payments during the administration of the settlement and, out of the total settlement budget of €1,308,500,000, we have already made advance payments up to €1,199 million. The notice or Final Determination letter will show your Final Claim Amount and the breakdown of the calculation and whether a balance will be paid to you as a final instalment.

WHEN WILL YOU BE PAID?

Some claimants may perhaps disagree with the calculation of their Final Claim Amount. There is an organised process for handling these disputes, first before Computershare, our Claims Administrator, and then before the Dispute Committee. Note that such disputes must exclusively relate to the determination of the Final Claim Amount and may not re-open the earlier determination of the Provisional Claim Amount (see the Regulations of the Dispute Committee, sections 4.9/1 to 4.9/9). Since the total Settlement Amount is fixed, if some claimants succeed in obtaining more than was calculated, all other claimants will receive less. Hence the notice or Final Determination letter will mention that the amount that you will ultimately receive may differ slightly from the amount of the final instalment, if any, announced in that notice.

We trust that nobody will disagree with the calculations or that the disagreements will be minimal. In that case you should receive your final instalment (if you are still entitled to one) on or about 25 August 2022. We will publish an information notice on this website in the unlikely event that we would need to postpone the payment of these final instalments and to make adjustments to your Final Claim Amount.

WHAT ABOUT THE UNRESOLVED CLAIMS?

A few claims remain unresolved, because of disputes relating to Provisional Claim Amounts that are still pending with Computershare, our Claims Administrator, or with the Dispute Committee.

Because the fixed Settlement Amount of €1,308,500,000 must be shared between all valid claims, the outcome of a dispute with any one claimant can have an impact on the calculation of the Final Claim Amount of all other claimants. The resolution of a dispute can take several months. In order not to delay the finalisation of the calculations and the payment of the final instalments any longer, Ageas agreed to apply the assumption that is most beneficial to all other claimants: the payment percentages for each of the four buckets were calculated assuming that all unresolved claims will be rejected, so that the disputing claimants will not share in the fixed Settlement Amount.

This means that you will receive your highest possible share of the Settlement Amount and that these unresolved claims will not impact your Final Claim Amount or final instalment, if any.

These pending disputes related to Provisional Claim Amounts can continue to run their course after all other claimants have received their final instalments. If a disputing claimant then wins his dispute, he will be paid in accordance with the final decision rendered by Computershare or the Dispute Committee and will benefit from the same treatment as the other claimants. Ageas has agreed to bear the extra cost.

If you have further questions, please see our FAQ page for additional information.

THE OCTOBER 2020 PAYMENT BATCH

In October 2020, we paid a second instalment to claimants who filed their claim in 2018 and a first instalment to claimants who filed their claim in 2019.

The amount due to you under the Fortis settlement is paid in several instalments – one, two or three depending on your circumstances. The total Settlement Amount payable by Ageas is fixed, at €1,308,500,000, and must be shared between all claimants. If compensation is claimed for more Fortis Shares than expected, the amount of compensation per Fortis Share will be reduced. Conversely, if compensation is claimed for fewer Fortis Shares than expected, the amount of compensation per Fortis Share will be increased. In addition, the total Settlement Amount of €1,308,500,000 includes four separate buckets and the reduction or increase is calculated separately for each bucket (the four buckets are: Buyer Shares, Holder Shares, Compensation Add-On and Cost Addition – for more details, please see the acceptance letter you received from Computershare and the Settlement Agreement).

When your claim was accepted, Computershare advised you of your “Provisional Claim Amount” – this was a provisional calculation, before any reduction or increase. In other words, your Provisional Claim Amount was calculated by Computershare on the basis of 100% of the compensation amount for each bucket.

The table below shows the total size of each bucket and the minimum payment percentage per bucket, after reduction or increase, that we estimated in October 2020:

Buyer Shares €507.7M 100.0%
Holder Shares €572.6M 65.6%
Compensation Add-On €76.2M 61.1%
Cost Addition €152.0M 119.1%
€1,308.5M

Some examples below illustrate the calculation.

  • If you filed your claim in 2018, you already received at the time your claim was accepted a first instalment of 70% of your Provisional Claim Amount. In October 2020 Computershare recalculated your claim, by applying to each of the four buckets in your Provisional Claim Amount the above percentages. If this resulted in an amount greater than the 70% you already received, we paid the difference as a second instalment (unless the difference was less than €50, in which case it will be paid to you later, together with the final instalment). If the result was less than 70%, you were not entitled to a second instalment at that time.

  • If you filed your claim in 2019 and if you already received a letter confirming the acceptance of your claim, we paid you a first instalment in October 2020 (unless that first instalment would have been less than €50, in which case it will be paid to you later, together with the final instalment). This instalment was calculated by applying the above percentages to each of the four buckets in your Provisional Claim Amount.

In all cases, you may still be entitled to one final instalment: if your Final Claim Amount as communicated to you in June 2022 is more than what we paid you until then, we will pay you the balance (in any event you will not have to reimburse anything).

See our FAQ page for an answer to the following questions:

CALCULATION EXAMPLES FOR THE OCTOBER 2020 PAYMENT BATCH

Example 1

Details of your claim, as summarised in the acceptance letter sent by Computershare:

Your Provisional Claim Amount, as calculated according to the Settlement Distribution Plan, is €4,031.25. Below is a breakdown of the calculation resulting in your Provisional Claim Amount.

Period 1 Period 2 Period 3
Buyer 1 Shares Holder 1 Shares Buyer 2 Shares Holder 2 Shares Buyer 3 Shares Holder 3 Shares
1000 shares 1500 shares 0 shares 2500 shares 0 shares 2500 shares
€470.00 €345.00 €0 €1,275.00 €0 €375.00

Highest number of Fortis Shares held between the close of trading on 28 February 2007 and the close of trading on 14 October 2008: 2500 shares

Compensation Add-On: €950.00

Active Claimant: yes

Active Claimant Cost Addition: €616.25

Minimum estimate of your entitlement as re-calculated in October 2020:

Provisional Claim Amount re-calculation
Buyer Shares
€470.00
€0
€0
} €470.00
x 100.0% = €470.00
Holder Shares
€345.00
€1,275.00
€375.00
} €1,995.00
x 65.6% = €1,308.72
Compensation Add-On €950.00 x 61.1% = €580.45
Cost Addition €616.25 x 119.1% = €733.95
Total €4,031.25 €3,093.12
  • If you filed your claim in 2018, you already received at the time your claim was accepted a first instalment of €2,821.88, being 70% of your Provisional Claim Amount. The new minimum estimate of your entitlement as re-calculated in October 2020 is higher. The difference, which is €271.24, was paid to you as a second instalment.

  • If you filed your claim in 2019, the full minimum estimate of your entitlement as re-calculated in October 2020, which is €3,093.12, was paid to you as a first instalment.

Example 2

Details of your claim, as summarised in the acceptance letter sent by Computershare:

Your Provisional Claim Amount, as calculated according to the Settlement Distribution Plan, is €2,085.00. Below is a breakdown of the calculation resulting in your Provisional Claim Amount.

Period 1 Period 2 Period 3
Buyer 1 Shares Holder 1 Shares Buyer 2 Shares Holder 2 Shares Buyer 3 Shares Holder 3 Shares
0 shares 1500 shares 0 shares 1500 shares 0 shares 1500 shares
€0 €345.00 €0 €765.00 €0 €225.00

Highest number of Fortis Shares held between the close of trading on 28 February 2007 and the close of trading on 14 October 2008: 1500 shares

Compensation Add-On: €750.00

Active Claimant: no

Active Claimant Cost Addition: €0

Minimum estimate of your entitlement as re-calculated in October 2020:

Provisional Claim Amount re-calculation
Buyer Shares
€0
€0
€0
} €0
x 100.0% = €0
Holder Shares
€345.00
€765.00
€225.00
} €1,335.00
x 65.6% = €875.76
Compensation Add-On €750.00 x 61.1% = €458.25
Cost Addition €0 x 119.1% = €0
Total €2,085.00 €1,334.01
  • If you filed your claim in 2018, you already received at the time your claim was accepted a first instalment of €1,459.50, being 70% of your Provisional Claim Amount. The new minimum estimate of your entitlement as re-calculated in October 2020 is lower. Thus you did not receive a second instalment in October 2020. In any event you will not have to reimburse the €1,459.50 that you already received.

  • If you filed your claim in 2019, the full minimum estimate of your entitlement as re-calculated in October 2020, which is €1,334.01, was paid to you as a first instalment.

PAYMENT BATCHES FOLLOWING THE OCTOBER 2020 PAYMENT BATCH

Except for the final payment batch announced in June 2022, payment batches after October 2020 used the same minimum payment percentages per bucket, after reduction or increase, that were used for the October 2020 payment batch:

Buyer Shares €507.7M 100.0%
Holder Shares €572.6M 65.6%
Compensation Add-On €76.2M 61.1%
Cost Addition €152.0M 119.1%
€1,308.5M
  • If you filed your claim in 2019 and received your first instalment after October 2020, your first instalment was calculated by applying the above percentages to each of the four buckets in your Provisional Claim Amount (unless that first instalment would be less than €50, in which case it is paid to you later, together with the final instalment). Afterwards you may still be entitled to one final instalment: if your Final Claim Amount as communicated to you in June 2022 is more than what we paid you until then, we will pay you the balance on or about 25 August 2022 (in any event you will not have to reimburse anything).

  • If you filed your claim in 2018 (and therefore are an “early filer”) and received your first instalment after October 2020, your first instalment was also calculated by applying the above percentages to each of the four buckets in your Provisional Claim Amount. Note, however, that your first instalment was calculated as 70% of your Provisional Claim Amount if this leads to a higher amount than a first instalment calculated based on the above mentioned percentages. Afterwards you may still be entitled to one final instalment: if your Final Claim Amount as communicated to you in June 2022 is more than what we paid you until then, we will pay you the balance on or about 25 August 2022 (in any event you will not have to reimburse anything).

Any questions?

Please take a look at the FAQ.

Faq