Case
Tribunal de commerce francophone de Bruxelles - Patrinvest v. SA Ageas
In September 2012, Patripart NV, a former shareholder of former Belgian bank Fortis, and its parent company, Patrinvest SCA, brought an action for damages against Fortis successor Ageas SA/NV before the Brussels Commercial Court based on alleged incomplete and/or misleading information in Fortis's prospectus relating to its September 2007 capital increase. On February 1, 2016, the court ruled that the Fortis prospectus issued by the Fortis SA/NV (Bel) – Fortis NV (Holl) holding corporation gave a correct view of the state of affairs and risks relating to Fortis, in particular with regard to the acquisition of ABN Amro, the subprime portfolio, and its solvency and liquidity.
An Analysis Group team, led by Managing Principals Lisa Pinheiro and Marc Van Audenrode and Principal Jimmy Royer, prepared a report assessing the economic and financial context at the time of the publication of the prospectus. The court agreed with the report, noting that “Fortis [lawyers] also point to a report by financial and economic analysts, Finitude and Analysis Group, who examined many relevant indicators that reveal that after exhibiting some concern during August of 2007, the market for highly rated subprime RMBS stabilized until the end of 2007.”
The court's decision could still be appealed.
Meet Our People
Marc Van Audenrode*
Managing Principal*Dr. Van Audenrode is an expert in data analysis and econometrics, labor economics, antitrust and competition policy, and public economics. He has consulted to clients - including law firms and government agencies - in Canada, the US, and Europe. Dr. Van Audenrode’s work includes developing a methodology to value desktop software; he also developed expertise valuing goods as varied as restaurant franchises, executive stock options, or smartphone features. His recent work in public economics includes evaluating the economic rent from hydroelectricity to the Canadian economy and the value of logging rights on the ancestral territory of a Canadian First Nation. In the area of labor economics, his work has included filing an expert report assessing fair compensation for Quebec provincial judges and Quebec prosecutors and advising Quebec’s commission on pay equity. Dr. Van Audenrode has filed expert reports in courts in the US, Canada, Belgium, Germany, France, and the Netherlands, and has testified in Canada and the US. He recently filed a report with the Amsterdam Court of Appeal in support of the settlement reached between Ageas and claimant organizations in the Fortis case, the largest settlement ever reached through the Dutch Collective Settlement Act (WCAM). Dr. Van Audenrode’s scientific research and articles have been published in numerous peer-reviewed academic journals and trade journals. He is a coauthor of the book The Mutual Fund Industry: Competition and Investor Welfare, and is a frequent presenter at industry and academic conferences.
*Marc Van Audenrode srl