Ping An leads "no vote" against Fortis deal

Didier Reynders, Belgium minister of Finance via Wikipedia

Belgium media are up in arms as tomorrow the Belgium Fortis shareholders have to vote on the deal their government struck with BNP Parisbas on the sale of the remnants of the erstwhile proud company. Ping An, with almost five percent ownership in the Fortis holding, has announced it will vote against.
A "no vote" might mean that the shareholders end up with nothing at all, the federal minister of finance Didier Reynders has warned, trying to secure a "yes" on tomorrows meeting. While the refusal to renegotiate the deal has angered the already raging shareholders, the fear of ending with nothing at all has pulled some into the "yes" camp, although it is unclear how many.
Ping An seems to stick to its guns. It has been trying to secure a special treatment, first as largest shareholder - other shareholders are all smaller - and later by asking the Chinese government to use a bilateral treaty between China and Belgium/Luxembourg that promises compensation in the case of nationalisation. But Ping An seems to have gotten the same treatment as all the other Fortis shareholders and has all but been ignored.
The psychological effect of this Chinese corporate giant, trying to go global and lose its face in such a grand way might be more damaging than the financial losses. The retreat of Fortis board member Louis Cheung might indicate just that. If that is the case, Ping An would rather bring down Fortis than save the little bit of money it might get out of the BNP Parisbas deal.

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