NU Online News Service, Feb. 9, 2004, 5:42 p.m. EST – Fortis, Brussels, says it raised more than $2 billion last week by selling control over its U.S. financial services units.[@@]
The financial services company put 65% of its stake in Fortis Benefits, Fortis Health and other U.S. units on the block through an initial public offering. Fortis’ Fortis Insurance N.V. subsidiary brought in $1.8 billion by selling 80 million shares to the public, and it brought in more than $200 million more by selling 12 million shares to the underwriters.
A unit of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Company Inc., New York, was the managing underwriter.
The units spun off through the IPO now operate as Assurant Inc., a company with headquarters in New York and an official domicile in Delaware. The company’s shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ.