Belgium and Luxembourg scramble to sell Fortis

By Philip Blenkinsop and Michele Sinner

BRUSSELS/LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Belgium and Luxembourg scrambled on Saturday to find a buyer for the remains of troubled financial group Fortis (FOR.BR) (FOR.AS) and mulled a further nationalisation after the Netherlands took over its Dutch units.

The break-up of the cross-border banking and insurance group, less than a week after a first rescue attempt in which the three governments injected 11.2 billion euros (8.7 billion pounds), highlighted the ferocity with which the global crisis has swept into Europe.

Luxembourg's economy minister said French bank BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) was one possible bidder for parts of Fortis and a solution had to be found by the end of the weekend.

"BNP Paribas is one among many possibilities," Jeannot Krecke told Luxembourg's RTL radio station.

"Now we have to return to the solution we were looking at last Sunday, that is to find a strong partner because the Belgian government is the main shareholder of Fortis Luxembourg and that situation will be remedied this weekend."

The Dutch government bought the banking and insurance units of Fortis in the Netherlands on Friday for 16.8 billion euros, including most of Dutch bank ABN AMRO, after depositors and lenders fled the bank.

The second bailout in six days came on the eve of Saturday's Paris summit of the leaders of Europe's four major powers with the heads of European Union financial institutions to seek a common response to the credit crisis.

SALE OR NATIONALISATION?