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Investing.com -- BNP Paribas (OTC:BNPQY), the French bank, has increased its stake in Ageas (EBR:AGES) to over 15%, leading to a surge in the insurer’s shares. This move has resulted in Ageas becoming the top performer in Belgium’s blue-chip index.
On Wednesday, Ageas shares saw an increase of more than 3% in morning trading, reaching around 52.25 euros. This is the highest price the shares have attained since mid-2021.
In contrast, the BEL 20, Belgium’s benchmark stock index, experienced a slight increase of 0.15%.
As of last week, BNP Paribas had raised its stake in Ageas to 15.07%, as revealed in a transparency notification published late Tuesday. The French bank, already the largest shareholder of the insurer, now holds shares worth 1.44 billion euros ($1.50 billion), based on Ageas’s closing price of 50.7 euros on Tuesday.
According to Jason Kalamboussis, an analyst at ING, this increase in stake explains the rise in Ageas’s shares over the past month. He stated in a research note to clients that the move by BNP Paribas was unexpected and could potentially lead to speculation of a future takeover approach by the bank.
In the previous year, BNP Paribas had purchased a 9% stake in Ageas from Fosun International, a Chinese conglomerate. This acquisition, worth 730 million euros, was made through BNP Paribas Cardif, the insurance subsidiary of the French bank.
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