Sapa-AFP Brussels
France, Belgium and Luxembourg announced yesterday that they had reached a deal to dismantle troubled bank Dexia, the first victim of the euro zone debt crisis.
“The proposed solution, which is the result of intensive consultations between all involved parties, will be submitted to the Dexia board, whose responsibility it is to approve the plan,” a joint statement said without elaborating.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and Belgian counterpart Yves Leterme met to finalise the deal to dismantle the bank, which had to be rescued in 2008 at the start of the global financial crisis.
France and Belgium, Dexia shareholders after the 2008 bailout, needed to agree on the sale price of Dexia shares, including in its Belgian retail banking arm Dexia Bank Belgium that Brussels wanted to buy, media reported.
They also needed to agree on the guarantees backing up a so-called “bad bank” that would remain after Dexia’s dismantling to hold high-risk assets.
Belgian economic daily, l’EchoIt, estimated the price for the bank between E3 billion (R31.6bn) and E7.5bn and Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said Brussels did not exclude buying the subsidiary.