TIMELINE: Fortis - from riches to rags

(Reuters) - The Dutch government agreed on Friday to nationalize the banking and insurance activities of Fortis (FOR.BR)(FOR.AS) in the Netherlands -- the second state rescue for the Belgian-Dutch financial services group in a week.

Following are events that led the once-powerful group to its current woes:

2007

April 3 - Fortis, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and Spain's Santander (SAN.MC) say they have approached ABN AMRO, inviting the Dutch bank to takeover talks.

August - A crisis erupts in the U.S. subprime mortgage sector, leading to a global credit crunch.

Oct 10 - The consortium wins a bidding war against Barclays (BARC.L) for ABN AMRO with a 70 billion euro ($99.3 billion) offer, making it the biggest ever banking takeover.

Barclays had offered 63 billion euros.

The amount to be paid by Fortis is 24.2 billion.

2008