By Philip Blenkinsop and Michele Sinner
BRUSSELS/LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - The governments of Belgium and Luxembourg scrambled to find a buyer for the remains of troubled financial group FORTIS <:FORB.BR:>(FORA.AM)
The break-up of the cross-border banking and insurance group, less than a week after a first rescue attempt in which the three governments injected 11.2 billion euros, highlighted the ferocity with which the global crisis has swept into Europe.
Luxembourg's economy minister said French bank BNP Paribas
"BNP Paribas is one among many possibilities," Jeannot Krecke told Luxembourg's RTL radio station.
"Now we have to return to the solution we were looking at last Sunday, that is to find a strong partner because the Belgian government is the main shareholder of Fortis Luxembourg and that situation will be remedied this weekend."
The Dutch government bought the banking and insurance units of Fortis in the Netherlands on Friday for 16.8 billion euros, including most of Dutch bank ABN AMRO, after depositors and lenders fled the bank in a stunning collapse of confidence.
The second bailout in six days came on the eve of Saturday's Paris summit of the leaders of Europe's four major powers with the heads of European Union financial institutions to seek a common response to the credit crisis.
A Belgian source familiar with the situation said the only solutions for the rump Belgo-Luxembourg group were a sale to the private sector or full nationalization to protect depositors and save as many as possible of the 45,000 jobs at stake.
"Leaving things as they are now is not a realistic option," the source said.
CRISIS MEETINGS
Belgian business daily De Tijd quoted political sources as saying there were three or four would-be bidders for the Belgian activities of Fortis, including BNP. But the source told Reuters that there appeared to be fewer.
BNP Paribas, which sources said had offered 1.6 euros a share for Fortis a week ago, was not immediately available for comment. Fortis shares stood at 5.42 euros at Friday's close, before the Dutch nationalization and break-up was announced.
A Belgian government spokesman said core members of Prime Minister Yves Leterme's cabinet were due to meet on Saturday to discuss the 2009 budget.
Fortis Chief Executive Filip Dierckx, who refused to take questions at a brief news conference on Friday evening, failed to appear for planned television and public appearances on Saturday.
A source close to the bank said he was in crisis meetings on Saturday at Fortis' Brussels headquarters.
The Belgian government, which has a 49 percent stake in Fortis Bank Belgium, said on Friday the Dutch transaction allowed Belgium to concentrate on the evolution of the group in the short and medium term.
Leterme said then that he did not rule out further developments for Fortis.
Dutch media were split on Saturday over the government's decision to put the Dutch units under state control.
Calling it a baffling move, leading financial daily Het Financieele Dagblad noted that there was only one state-owned bank, the Dutch central bank.
"The banking crisis by itself is not a justification for Friday's intervention," the paper wrote in an editorial.
"In one move, ABN AMRO and Fortis have become the most trustworthy banks in the market. This is an unfair competitive advantage during the current credit crisis," it said.
But left-wing daily De Volkskrant took a more positive view, saying the move was unavoidable due to the uncertainties swirling around ABN AMRO and as depositors withdrew their money.
Fortis, a Belgian-Luxembourg group, is now made up of Fortis's banking and insurance activities in Belgium, Fortis Banque Luxemourg, international operations, notably banking in Poland and Turkey, and asset management arm Fortis Investments.
(Writing by Paul Taylor, additional reporting by Darren Ennis in Brussels and Foo Yunchee in Amsterdam; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
