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In the light of encouraging developments, the Commission has decided to grant an extension of the deadline for the divestment of Fortis's corporate banking business - consisting of Hollandsche Bank Unie N.V. (HBU), two corporate client departments, 13 "Advieskantoren" and ABN AMRO's Dutch factoring activities - to a large international bank until 20th October
The extra 24 hours is to allow a preliminary agreement on the sale of HBU and the other businesses that must be divested. Any further extension would only be granted in order to finalise a binding sale and purchase agreement.
In the context of the 3rd October 2007 merger clearance (see IP/07/1442), Fortis has made a commitment to the Commission not to merge the Dutch activities of ABN AMRO and Fortis without arranging prior divestments. This commitment, which has not lost its importance or legal validity, was taken over by the
The commission statement does not name the likely buyer, but the Dutch government has been negotiating for months with Deutsche Bank about the sale. Without the deal, it will not be able to merge ABN Amro and Fortis Bank