Wire: BLOOMBERG News (BN) Date: 2008-10-01 03:09:36 
(Update2)
By Lenka Ponikelska and Cathy Chan
     Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Fortis, the bank rescued by Belgium,
the Netherlands and Luxembourg, said the 2.15 billion euro ($3
billion) sale of half its asset management arm to China's Ping An
Insurance (Group) Co. may collapse because of the worsening
credit crisis.
     Fortis cited ``severe market disruption and the ongoing
uncertainty in the global capital markets'' for the likely
failure of the deal, according to a statement distributed by
Hugin yesterday. Fortis Investments will remain 100 percent owned
by Fortis Group, the Brussels-based bank said.
     Ping An, China's second-largest insurer, was trying to
negotiate a lower price after asset values slumped since the deal
was announced in March. Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg
are injecting 11.2 billion euros into Fortis after its shares
plummeted on speculation it would struggle to replenish capital.
     ``Ping An is very lucky to be getting away with this because
a successful purchase would mean an immediate writedown for
them,'' said Kenny Tang, director of Tung Tai Securities Co. Ltd.
in Hong Kong. ``In this environment, they can buy all sorts of
asset management businesses much cheaper because there are more
sellers in the market.''
     Ping An, which bought 4.2 percent of Fortis in November for
1.81 billion euros, had its biggest two-day drop in four years in
Hong Kong trading this week after warning it may take further
provisions for losses from its holding. The insurer booked a 10.5
billion yuan ($1.5 billion) loss on the stake in the first half.
 
                          Bargain Deal
 
     While Ping An shareholders had approved the sale, it was
still pending regulatory approval. Sheng Ruisheng, a spokesman
for the Shenzhen-based company, said Ping An and Fortis had tried
to renegotiate terms of the deal. He said he couldn't comment on
whether the sale had collapsed.
     The Fortis Investment deal was part of a plan by Ping An
become a diversified financial services group that will get two-
thirds of its revenue from banking, securities and asset
management. Insurance accounted for more than 90 percent of Ping
An's revenue last year, according to Bloomberg data.
     On March 21, the day after the deal was announced, Ping An
President Louis Cheung said the Chinese company was paying
``significantly below'' market price for Fortis Investments.
Cheung at the time said the purchase would give Ping An access to
a ``critical mass'' of asset management customers and let it
provide a full range of products in China.
 
                          ABN Purchase
 
     Fortis, Belgium's largest financial institution, joined with
Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Spain's Banco Santander SA
last year to buy Amsterdam-based ABN Amro Holding NV for 72
billion euros, just as the U.S. subprime mortgage market
collapsed.
     The company's stock dropped 35 percent last week on concern
it would have trouble replenishing capital. The three European
governments are making their capital injection by taking minority
stakes in its banking units in each country.
     Fortis said it would also sell ABN Amro's private banking
and Dutch consumer-banking units, which hadn't yet been
integrated, to restore its finances.
     Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the U.S. securities firm that
filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15, is selling its investment-
management unit to Bain Capital LLC and Hellman & Friedman LLC
for $2.15 billion.
     Ping An isn't the first Chinese company to see a deal with a
Western firm collapse as the year-old credit crunch reshapes the
global financial industry. In March, Citic Securities Co.
canceled a proposed $1 billion investment in Bear Stearns Cos.
after the Wall Street brokerage was bought by JPMorgan & Chase Co.
in a deal brokered by the Federal Reserve.
     ``This is great news for Ping An, which gets saved from
booking a huge loss on the investment,'' said Luo Yi, a Shenzhen-
based analyst at China Merchants Securities Co. ``Companies like
Ping An should stay put rather than pursue deals recklessly
abroad at the moment.''