13.9.3.2 Scope of the acquisition ban

Most acquisition bans entail that the beneficiary bank shall not acquire any stake in any undertaking. Two elements are of importance here: “any stake” and “any undertaking”.

With respect to the element of “any undertaking”, it should be pointed out that, while most acquisition bans prohibit the acquisition of stakes in any undertaking, there are some acquisition bans that only concern the acquisition of financial undertakings. The scope of those acquisition bans is thus somewhat limited.

Also with respect to the element of “any stake”, the scope of the acquisition ban can differ. In most cases, the beneficiary bank is prohibited from acquiring any stake. But in some cases, the beneficiary bank may acquire small stakes. For instance, Ethias committed not to acquire more than 5% of the capital of other credit institutions or investment firms.1 The acquisition bans in the cases of Fortis and KBC are quite remarkable, since these banks were refrained from acquiring control, as defined by the EC Merger Regulation2, of other financial institutions.