Fortis delays shareholder vote on BNP deal

By Antonia van de Velde

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Fortis NV (FOR.BR) on Wednesday postponed a shareholder vote until April 28-29 on the sale of its former banking arm to BNP Paribas SA (BNPP.PA), casting fresh doubt over whether it can complete the deal.

Fortis investors, who blocked BNP's purchase of 75 percent of Fortis Bank from the Belgian state last month, were due to vote on revised conditions for the deal at meetings in the Dutch city of Utrecht on April 8 and in Brussels on April 9.

"A vote on the issue will take place during the ordinary shareholders meeting ... on April 28 and the annual shareholders meeting on April 29...," Fortis said in a statement.

The move followed a ruling from the Brussels Court of Appeal that only shareholders who held stock when Fortis was broken up in October would be allowed to vote in Brussels.

The ruling could swing the vote in favor of the "no" camp, as well as giving Fortis organizational headaches. Shareholder registrations for the meetings were to have closed on Thursday.

Fortis has meanwhile decided to launch an appeal against Tuesday's court ruling. That is set to be brought before the appeal court on Thursday.

At 1510 GMT Fortis's shares were up 0.5 percent at 1.39 euros, while the DJ Stoxx European banking sector index .SX7P was 3.4 percent higher. BNP Paribas shares were up 5.0 percent at 32.68 euros.

Fortis was carved up by the Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments in October after an 11.2 billion euro ($14.80 billion) cash injection failed to calm investors.