N.V. AMEV, a large Dutch insurer, and VSB Groep, part of which is a Dutch bank, merged their operations in 1990. They were joined later that same year by AG Group – a large Belgian insurer – to complete the first cross-border financial merger. AG Group boasted a strong position in the Belgian insurance market at the time and was market leader in a variety of sectors. However, the international spread of its Operations was fairly limited and its banking interests were minimal, whereas N.V. AMEV was able to contribute a pretty strong position in the Dutch and the international insurance markets.

Fortis has grown substantially since its inception, thanks to both organic growth and acquisitions. Banking operations were strengthened by a series of takeovers. The group has also disposed of several businesses in keeping with its international strategy.

But in 2008, following the subprime crisis, the activities were divided. The Dutch banking and insurance activities were acquired by the Dutch State, and the Belgian banking activities by the Belgian State that subsequently ceded 75% to BNP Paribas. The latter also acquired a 25% stake in the capital of the Belgian insurance company (subsequently becoming AG Insurance). At this point Fortis still owned 75% of AG Insurance and of the international insurance. A few months later, on 30 April 2010, Fortis became Ageas.

The facts about Fortis:

 2011  

• 18 February 2011 : Ageas enters the Turkish non-life insurance market through a long-term partnership with Sabanci.
• 17 March 2011: Ageas publishes its annual report; at the same time, and for the first time, Ageas publishes its Annual Review in the form of an interactive Internet site.
• 24 March 2011 : Ageas acquires Castle Cover Limited in United Kingdom.
• 27 & 28 April 2011: the shareholders approve the appointment of Ronny Bruckner as a new director.
• 8 June 2011 : Ageas, BGL BNP Paribas and BNP Paribas Cardif conclude a life insurance partnership in Luxembourg.
• 23 June 2011 : Ageas transfers its portfolio of run-off reinsurance liabilities to Swiss Re.

2010   

• 26 February 2010: Bart De Smet becomes President of Assuralia for a term of two years.
• 12 March 2010: Fortis publishes its new Corporate Governance Charter.
• 28 and 29 April 2010: de shareholders of Fortis SA/NV and Fortis N.V. approve the name change of Fortis into Ageas.
• 30 April 2010: the stock trades on Euronext under its new name "Ageas" and the ticker code AGS.
• 7 June 2010: Ageas moves to new headquarters in Brussels.
• 2 July 2010: Ageas acquires Kwik-Fit Insurance Services.
• 26 July 2010: Ageas sells its Pension and Life activities in Turkey.
• 16 September 2010: Ageas announces it has reached an agreement with Horizon Capital on the sale of its Ukrainian Life activities.

• 27 January 2009: The panel of experts presents its interim report. It concludes that the sale of Fortis entities to BNP Paribas was the only viable option and that the terms on which it was concluded were reasonable. At the same time, it announces a number of recommendations designed to improve the terms of the operation on behalf of Fortis shareholders. The publication of the report also marks the beginning of fresh negotiations between the Belgian state, BNP Paribas and Fortis.
• 30 January 2009: A new agreement is concluded between the Belgian state, BNP Paribas and Fortis. This includes the limited transfer of 10% of Fortis Insurance Belgium to BNP Paribas, adjustment of the mechanism of the SPV and CASHES, and the issue of a call option in favour of the Fortis group on the BNP Paribas shares held by the SFPI/FPIM (replacing ‘coupon 42’, which the Belgian state created at the beginning of October 2008).
• 1 February 2009: Louis Cheung (Ping An) announces his resignation from the Board of Directors with immediate effect.
• 11 February 2009: The General Meeting of Shareholders of Fortis SA/NV in Brussels votes against the sale of Fortis Bank Nederland (by 57.01%) and, by an extremely narrow majority (50.26%), against the Memorandum of Understanding with BNP Paribas. The appointment is approved of three new members of the Board of Directors: Jozef De Mey, Georges Ugeux and Jan Zegering Hadders.
• 13 February 2009: The three new Board members appointed in Brussels are confirmed by the General Meeting of Fortis N.V. in Utrecht. Following these appointments, the General Meeting accepts the resignation of the entire existing Board of Directors. During the first meeting of the Board of Directors immediately following the General Meeting, Jozef De Mey is appointed Chairman, triggering the immediate resignation of Georges Ugeux, who had just been appointed.
• 20 February 2009: Fresh negotiations begin between the Belgian state, BNP Paribas and Fortis.
• 6 March 2009: A new agreement is concluded between the Belgian state, BNP Paribas and Fortis. This includes the transfer of 25% of Fortis Insurance Belgium to Fortis Bank (and no longer to BNP Paribas) and a reduced exposure of Fortis to the SPV; it also confirms the new mechanism for the CASHES and the call option in favour of the Fortis group on the BNP Paribas shares held by the SFPI/FPIM (Federal Participation and Investment Corporation).
• 31 March 2009: The Court of Appeal in Brussels responds to the case brought by lawyer Mischaël Modrikamen by ordering that the right to vote on the new agreement with BNP Paribas at the General Meeting scheduled for 9 April in Brussels should be limited to shareholders who owned Fortis shares on 14 October 2008.
• 1 April 2009: Fortis announces that the votes on the new agreement with BNP Paribas and the appointment of the new members of the Board of Directors scheduled for the General Meetings on 8 and 9 April will be postponed until the General Meetings at the end of April.
• 10 April 2009: The Court of Appeal in Brussels rules in response to the third-party opposition submitted by Fortis that all the shareholders will be authorised to vote on the new agreement with BNP Paribas at the General Meetings at the end of April. It refuses the minority shareholders leave to add an additional point to the agenda regarding a standalone project for Fortis Bank.
• 28 April 2009: Shareholders of Fortis SA/NV at the General Meeting in Ghent vote 72.99% in favour of the Memorandum of Understanding with BNP Paribas. The appointment is also approved of five new members of the Board of Directors: Frank Arts, Guy de Selliers de Moranville, Roel Nieuwdorp, Lionel Perl and Jin Shaoliang.
• 29 April 2009: Shareholders of Fortis N.V. at the General Meeting in Utrecht vote 77.65% to confirm the Memorandum of Understanding with BNP Paribas. The General Meeting also confirms the five new members of the Board of directors appointed in Brussels.
• 12 May 2009: Fortis, the Belgian state (in the shape of the Federal Participation and Investment Corporation, SFPI/FPIM), Fortis Bank and BNP Paribas close the transactions concluded on 6 March 2009. Closure follows the vote in favour of the transactions at the General Meetings of Shareholders of Fortis SA/NV and Fortis N.V. on 28 and 29 April 2009.
• 22 June 2009: Fortis Insurance Belgium becomes AG Insurance.
• 1 July 2009: Bart De Smet, CEO of AG Insurance, replaces Karel De Boeck as CEO of Fortis.
• 15 July 2009: Me Modrikamen files his  conclusions on the substance of the case with the Commercial Court in Brussels.
• 12 August 2009: Fortis announces the appointment of Bruno Colmant as Deputy Chief Executive Officer.
• 27 August 2009: Fortis announces the appointment of Kurt De Schepper as Chief Risk Officer and of Antonio Cano as CEO of AG Insurance as of 1 September. At the same time, Fortis announces changes to the management structure of the group so as to reflect Fortis’s new scope as an international insurance company.
• 11 September 2009: Tesco and Fortis finalise their insurance partnership.
• 17 September 2009: Fortis and BNP Paribas Assurance conclude a strategic partnership in non-life banking and insurance with UBI Banca in Italy.
• 25 September 2009: Fortis presents the results of its strategy review.
• 6 October 2009: Fortis disposes of its non-life activities in Luxembourg to La Bâloise.
• 28 October 2009: Fortis ends its insurance activities in Russia.
• 6 November 2009: Fortis Finance announces the launch on 10 November 2009 of a public bid of EUR 1.0 billion on the balance of its bonds in circulation.
• 9 November 2009: Fortis, KASIKORNBANK and Muang Thai Group strengthen their links by signing an agreement under the terms of which KASIKORNBANK increases its holding in Muang Thai by 10% to 51%.
• 8 December 2009: the Commercial Court in Brussels rejects all the requests made by Me Modrikamen, except for the obligation for Fortis to produce certain documents.

• VINCI and Fortis signed on 5 March 2008 a memorandum of understanding with a view to combining their respective activities in the public car park industry. This combination will be achieved through VINCI Park, a subsidiary of VINCI Concessions, and Interparking, a subsidiary of Fortis Real Estate.
• On 2 April 2008, Ping An has agreed to acquire a 50% equity stake in Fortis Investments, the global asset management arm of Fortis, for a consideration of EUR 2.15 billion.
• Fortis, ABN AMRO and Deutsche Bank announced on 2 July 2008 that they had signed an agreement by which Deutsche Bank will acquire from ABN AMRO parts of its commercial banking activities in the Netherlands.
• Fortis has sold International Asset Management Limited (IAM) on 9 July 2008 to its management team, supported by certain third party investors.
• 11 July 2008: Fortis Board and Jean-Paul Votron have decided, by mutual agreement and in the interest of the Group, to terminate the mandate of Jean-Paul Votron as Fortis CEO. Herman Verwilst has agreed to take over the Group CEO function.
• 1 August 2008: Fortis CFO, CRO and General Counsel to report to CEO; Gilbert Mittler appointed special advisor to the CEO.
• 26 September 2008: Fortis nominates Filip Dierckx as CEO.
• 29 September 2008: The Belgian, Luxembourg and Dutch governments invest EUR 11.2bn in Fortis. Fortis will sell its stake in ABN AMRO (RFS Holdings); ING quickly announces that it will not go ahead with the purchase of ABN AMRO. Maurice Lippens resigns from the Board of Directors of Fortis.
• 3 October 2008: The Dutch state acquires Fortis’s operations in the Netherlands for EUR 16.8bn (EUR 8.8bn for ABN AMRO, EUR 4bn for Fortis Bank Nederland and EUR 4bn for Fortis Insurance Nederland).
• 5 October 2008: The Belgian state’s share of Fortis Bank (outside the Netherlands) is increased to just under 100% (99.935%); shortly afterwards, the Belgian state concludes an agreement with BNP Paribas for the transfer of 75% of Fortis Bank. Fortis also concludes an agreement with BNP Paribas regarding the transfer of 100% of Fortis Insurance Belgium. An SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) is created to hold Fortis Bank’s toxic assets. At this point, Fortis comprises international insurance operations, a stake in the SPV, an amount of cash and certain liabilities.
• 13 October 2008: The Belgian state creates the ‘coupon 42’ mechanism to compensate certain categories of Fortis shareholders. Meanwhile, the Modrikamen law office seeks an injunction from the Commercial Court in Brussels to suspend the dismantling of the Fortis group.
• 18 November 2008: The Commercial Court in Brussels responds to the application for an injunction by minority shareholders in Belgium by authorising the continuation of the transfers and ordering the creation of a panel of experts.
• 24 November 2008: The Enterprise Chamber in Amsterdam responds to a petition by shareholders in the Netherlands (led by the VEB and Euroshareholders) by ordering an inquiry and ruling that the approval of the General Meeting of Shareholders is not required for the transactions with BNP Paribas and the Belgian and Dutch state.
• 1 and 2 December 2008: During the General Meetings of Fortis N.V. in Utrecht and Fortis SA/NV in Brussels, Karel De Boeck is elected CEO and Louis Cheung is re-elected to the Board of Directors. Philippe Bodson and Jan-Michiel Hessels are not elected to the Board. Etienne Davignon narrowly fails to be appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors.
• 12 December 2008: The Court of Appeal in Brussels orders the suspension of the dismantling of the group, the appointment of a new panel of experts and the organisation of a General Meeting of Shareholders before 12 February 2009, at which the right to vote will be restricted to shareholders who owned Fortis shares on 14 October 2008 and who continue to hold those shares as of the date of the General Meeting.
• 19 December 2008: Shareholders of Fortis SA/NV at the General Meeting in Brussels vote 96.98% in favour of continuing the operations of Fortis. 

• In January, Fortis Investments opens new office in Hong Kong.
• In March, Fortis acquires Dominet in Poland.
• In April, Fortis Lease finalises the acquisition of Captive Finance Ltd., bringing its presence to a total of 22 countries.
• On 1 May, Fortis and An Post launch Postbank, their 50-50 joint venture in Ireland.
• In May, Fortis acquires 98.59% of shares and options of Pacific Century Insurance Holdings Ltd., an insurer based in Hong Kong.
• In September, Fortis sells its stake in the Spanish bancassurance joint venture CaiFor to ”la Caixa”.
• On 17 October, Fortis acquires together with its consortium partners ABN AMRO.

• After finalising the acquisition of Von Essen KG Bankgesellschaft, opening of two credit shops in both Germany and Poland, aiming for 20 respectively 5 shops by end 2006.
• In April, Fortis signed a Memorandum of Understanding with An Post, for the creation of a joint venture with a view to providing financial services in Ireland through An Post’s network of 1,450 post offices. Final agreement signed in October.
• Opening of new business centres for Commercial & Private Banking in UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Greece.
• Fortis Lease acquired Dreieck Industrie Leasing, making it the 3rd largest player in Switzerland. It also acquired two leasing companies (Innotrade Leasing, Takleasing) in Hungary.
• Acquisition of Hedge Fund Services, the largest fund administrator on the British Virgin Islands (with EUR 2 billion in assets under management).
• In June, Fortis signed an agreement to acquire Cinergy Marketing & Trading, a Texas-based marketing and trading platform with operations in all key North American power and gas markets. Transaction closed on 2 October.
• Through its subsidiary Fortis Vastgoed Ontwikkeling, Fortis has signed an agreement in May to acquire 100% of the shares of William Properties, a leading independent Dutch real estate developer.
• In July, Fortis, the Industrial Development Bank of India Ltd (IDBI) and Federal Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding to create a life insurance joint venture in India. Initially, Fortis and Federal Bank will own 26% each and IDBI 48%.
• In August, Fortis announced that it has signed a preliminary agreement to acquire Etalon Life, Ukraine’s seventh largest Life insurance company, for approximately EUR 7.6 million.
• In September, Fortis acquires 4 Faktor Sp.zo.o, a factoring company in Poland.
• Investment in new, mainly customer-facing staff: in 2006 more than 9,300 new colleagues (net hiring: 1,400)
• Alignment with international CSR standards: endorsement of the revised Equator Principles, the UN Environment Programme for Financial Institutions and the UN Global Compact – an international initiative to advance universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.
• Acquisition of Dominet, a Polish consumer finance specialist, of Gutingia, a German life insurer, and of Global (a Romanian leasing specialist).
• Fortis Investments created a Russian asset management joint venture (CIT Fortis Investments) and acquired a 70% stake in Cadogan, a leading fund of hedge funds platform.
  

• In January: Fortis acquired a 51% stake in a joint venture (Millenniumbcp Fortis) with Banco Comercial Português at a cost of EUR 514 million. Millenniumbcp Fortis is Portugal’s biggest bancassurer.
• Fortis acquired 93.3% of Disbank – the seventh largest privately owned bank in Turkey – in two steps beginning in July. The total acquisition price was EUR 987 million. Disbank will retain its Istanbul listing.
• OutRight, a leading provider of personal lines insurance solutions in the UK, was acquired by Fortis in September, followed in December by Affinity Solutions, a financial services consultancy firm specialised in the UK’s affinity market.
• Dryden Wealth Management, which offers asset management services to private and institutional customers, was bought by Fortis for EUR 84 million in October.
• Fortis was granted a banking licence in the UAE in October. Our new Dubai branch can now offer wealth management services to customers in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
• Mayban Fortis – a Malaysian joint venture with Maybank – acquired Malaysia National Insurance Holdings.
• Atradius Factoring was taken over in November and is being integrated into Fortis Commercial Finance. It will shortly begin to operate under the Fortis brand. Meanwhile, a commercial agreement was concluded between Fortis and Atradius itself, a credit insurer, to use each other’s European distribution networks.
• Merchant Banking signed an agreement in November to acquire Chicago-based O’Connor & Co., a leading supplier of clearing services to the US equity, futures and options markets. The acquisition was finalised in February 2006.
• Merchant Banking opened two offices in North America (in Calgary and San Francisco).
• Retail Banking announced the acquisition in December of Von Essen KG Bankgesellschaft, a German consumer finance bank.
• Fortis’s Dutch general insurer (after merger of AMEV, Stad Rotterdam and Woudsend), Banque Générale du Luxembourg and Disbank in Turkey were all rebranded as Fortis in the final quarter.
• Commercial & Private Banking opened nine Business Centres in 2005. The acquisition of Disbank also enabled us to open twelve new BCs in Turkey. Trust Offices were set up in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Russia and Poland.

• January: Fortis and ICBC (Asia) sign an agreement to merge the consumer and commercial banking activities of Fortis Bank Asia HK and ICBC (Asia).
• In February Fortis sells its 65% stake in Assurant, Inc. (formerly Fortis, Inc.) in the United States.
• March: Fortis enters a partnership with Muang Thai in Thailand and anncounces the sale of GWK in the Netherlands.
• In June Fortis acquires of Deutsche Immobilien Leasing France and 10% of Banca Intermobiliare in Italy.
• July: Fortis announces the creation of Millenniumbcp Fortis Insurance Group in Portugal and acquires 50% stake.

• January: Fortis Bank takes over some of KBC Bank’s retail activities in the Netherlands. (Fortis Bank had already taken over the majority of their corporate banking operations in Nov. 2002).
• June: Fortis ASR announces the loss of 750 jobs (14%) over the next three years. This decision is due to the refined long-range plans.
• August: Fortis sells subsidiary Theodoor Gilissen Bankiers.
• August: Fortis Haitong Investment Management successfully launches the Fortis Haitong Best Selection Fund, its first investment fund on the Chinese market.
• September: Fortis joins the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the Dow Jones Sustainability Stoxx Index. De Dow Jones Sustainability Indices are two of the best known indices that have hooked into the increasing interest in socially responsible investment.
• September: Fortis announces its intention to float its non-core US insurance activities in the course of 2004.
• November: Fortis Insurance International reaches agreement with Grupo Catalana Occidente on the sale of Seguros Bilbao, a Spanish subsidiary of Fortis.
• At the same time CaiFor-subsidiary VidaCaixa concludes the takeover of Swiss Life (España).
• December: Fortis ASR announces that it will fully integrate AMEV, Stad Rotterdam and Woudsend into one new business, which will operate under the name Fortis ASR.
• December: MeesPierson Intertrust announces that it has finalised the full takeover of KMPG Financial Engineering Luxembourg. KMPG Financial Engineering Luxembourg is the trust and corporate management division of the local KPMG organisation
• And Fortis and Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG (BA/CA) reach agreement on the sale of BA/CA Asset Finance Ltd., BA/CA’s lease operation, to Fortis Lease.

• In February 2002 Fortis and ING Lease announced that they agreed on the transfer of TOP Lease.
• In April 2002 Fortis AG strengthened its property investment portfolio by acquiring Bernheim Comofi in Belgium.
• In July 2002 Fortis acquired 100% of Intertrust Group. Intertrust is active in trust and company management.
• In December Fortis sells its equity interests in Keppel Insurance Pte Ltd in Singapore.

• Fortis, Inc. completes the sale of Fortis Financial Group in the US.
• Fortis enters into a joint venture with Maybank, the biggest financial services group in Malaysia.
• Fortis, Inc. acquires CORE, Inc.
• Fortis acquires the Spanish insurance portfolio of Bâloise.
• Fortis sells its Australian non-life insurance company.
• Fortis, Inc. signs agreement to acquire Protective Life Corporation’s Dental Benefits Division.
• Fortis and China Insurance Group announce Life insurance partnership in China.
• Fortis Investment Management signs a strategic alliance with Haitong Securities Co. Ltd. in Shanghai (China).

• In January Fortis sells its US private healthcare insurance companies.
• In March Fortis increases its stake in Banque Générale du Luxembourg from 53% to 97.73% of the bank’s share capital. This move strengthens Fortis’ presence in its home market, the Benelux region. Banque Générale du Luxembourg will adopt the business line approach of Fortis Bank.
• In April Fortis exercises its call option for the remaining 70% of the shares in the Spanish bank Beta Capital. This bank concentrates on private banking and brokerage in the Spanish market.
• In September Fortis increases its stake in Belgolaise, a Belgian bank with operations mainly in Africa, from 62% to nearly 100%.
• In October Fortis finalises the takeover of the US pre-need funeral insurance company American Memorial Life Insurance Company. This acquisition enables Fortis to expand its market share and increase its management expertise within this specialised market segment.
• ASR Verzekeringsgroep N.V. and Fortis announce the merger of ASR and AMEV Nederland N.V. The merger is completed in April 2001, making Fortis the biggest insurer in the Benelux region and the Netherlands’ second-largest insurer operating through insurance intermediaries.

• In February Fortis acquires the remaining 25% of the shares of ASLK-CGER.
• Fortis completes the takeover of American Bankers Insurance Group, Inc., one of the two leading US credit-related insurers.
• Fortis acquires UK insurer Northern Star.

• Fortis completes the acquisition of John Alden Financial Corporation, an independent provider of group health insurance and healthcare services for small businesses in the US.
• Fortis finalises the takeover of the Pierce National Life Insurance Company, a US funeral insurance company.
• In July Fortis completes the merger with Generale Bank in Belgium. In a two-step takeover, Fortis acquires 98.2% of Generale Bank, which merges with ASLK-CGER in June 1999 to form Fortis Bank.

• Fortis acquires another 25% of the shares of ASLK-CGER, bringing its stake in this company to approximately 75%.
• Fortis takes over the Dutch merchant bank MeesPierson. This takeover bolsters Fortis’ banking operations considerably, particularly in the fields of private, corporate and investment banking, and substantially increases the level and scope of the bank’s investment activities.
• Fortis acquires three US insurance companies active in specific market segments, an insurance company in the United Kingdom, and the remaining 13% of GWK Bank in the Netherlands.

• Fortis disposes of its non-life operations in the Irish Republic and its life insurance activities in Denmark.
• Fortis sells the US car insurance company Superior Insurance.

• Fortis takes over the Belgian bank SNCI-NMKN through ASLK-CGER. SNCI-NMKN merges fully with ASLK-CGER in 1997.

• Fortis acquires a majority interest in ASLK-CGER, a Belgian bank and insurer, from the Belgian government. This move greatly bolsters Fortis’ activities and expertise in banking and bancassurance.

• Fortis enters into a joint venture with ”la Caixa”, a leading bank in Spain. The subsidiaries of this joint venture (known as CaiFor) are SegurCaixa, a non-life insurer in which Fortis has a 60% stake, and VidaCaixa, a life insurer in which Fortis has a 40% interest. Both companies distribute their products through the bank branches of ”la Caixa”.

• Fortis takes over the Disability and Life portfolio of the Mutual Benefit Life group in the US.
• Fortis acquires Interlloyd, a Dutch insurance company.