Fortis sells hedge fund International Asset Management

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Belgian-Dutch financial services group Fortis (FOR.AS: Quote, Profile, Research)(FOR.BR: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday it had sold former ABN AMRO unit International Asset Management IAM.L as part of a strategy to bolster its balance sheet.

Fortis said in a statement it had sold London-based fund-of-hedge-funds manager IAM to its management, supported by certain third party investors.

The deal would not have a material impact on Fortis' net profit per share but would give some solvency relief, it said.

Fortis two weeks ago announced a programme to shore up its finances by 8.3 billion euros (6.6 billion pounds), partly by selling assets, after buying parts of former rival ABN AMRO.

IAM is one of the former subsidiaries of ABN AMRO Asset Management, which Fortis acquired when buying ABN AMRO together with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Spain's Santander (SAN.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) for 70 billion euros, a deal sealed last year just as the credit crisis hit.