AGEAS : Regulated information - Ageas appeals against decision of Amsterdam Court of Appeal and announces a provision of EUR 130 million

Further to the decision of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal of 29 July 2014 in the FortisEffect litigation, and following a thorough analysis of the details, Ageas has decided to launch an appeal against the Court's decision with the Dutch Supreme Court and to constitute a provision of EUR 130 million.

The Amsterdam Court of Appeal decided that the sale of the Dutch Fortis entities in September-October 2008 remains unaffected. However, it also ruled that during the period of 29 September through 1 October 2008 Fortis provided misleading and incomplete information to the markets^[1]:
#_ftn1. The Court concluded that Fortis should indemnify the damages suffered as a result thereof by the shareholders concerned. The damages, if any, will be decided upon and determined in further proceedings.

Having reviewed the ruling in detail, Ageas has decided to launch an appeal against the Court's decision with the Dutch Supreme Court.

Although no damages have been established to date in the current proceedings, Ageas has considered that it is appropriate to constitute a provision of EUR 130 million, based on its assessment of the terms of the Court's decision and on methods and assumptions commonly used in the market. The amount of the provision will be recognized in the 6 month results of the General Account. Otherwise this decision will not impact Ageas's strategy and capital management.

IFRS Group solvency will marginally decrease by 3%points as a consequence of the provision (Group Solvency amounted 213% at the end of March 2014). However, IFRS Insurance solvency remains unaffected and strong (at 209% at the end of March 2014). Ageas emphasizes that the Fortis legacy litigations do not affect its insurance entities but only concerns the General Account.

Ageas is an international insurance group with a heritage spanning 190 years. Ranked among the top 20 insurance companies in Europe, Ageas has chosen to concentrate its business activities in Europe and Asia, which together make up the largest share of the global insurance market. These are grouped around four segments: Belgium, United Kingdom, Continental Europe and Asia and served through a combination of wholly owned subsidiaries and partnerships with strong financial institutions and key distributors around the world. Ageas operates successful partnerships in Belgium, the UK, Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, China, Malaysia, India and Thailand and has subsidiaries in France, Hong Kong and the UK. Ageas is the market leader in Belgium for individual life and employee benefits, as well as a leading Non-Life player through AG Insurance. In the UK, Ageas is the sixth largest Non-Life insurer with a number 2 position in cars insured and has a strong presence in the over 50's market. Ageas employs more than 13,000 people in the consolidated entities and over 30,000 in the non-consolidated partnerships, and has annual inflows of more than EUR 23 billion.