SQ Law’s Geert Lenssens was quoted by Reuters on 27 December 2012.

Following a series of high-profile cases where shareholders suffered devastating losses due to nationalization (notably the cross-border case of Spanish bank, Bankia, versus Allied Irish Banks (AIB)), SQ Law’s Geert Lenssens represents minority shareholders in the ongoing Dexia case.

Investors in ailing Dexia, the Franco-Belgian financial institution active in public finance, voted recently to accept the near-nationalisation of their group when it receives its next 5.5 billion euros of rescue money. The shareholders were faced with choosing between having their collective ownership diluted to just 1.9 percent of the bank (from their current 30.4 percent) or acquiescing to the immediate liquidation of the bank. Geert Lenssens, partner at SQ Law representing a number of minority shareholders in this case, expressed to Reuters how it was an extremely difficult choice, between two very unpalatable solutions, each with serious consequences. The parties are undeniably between a rock and a hard place with no way out.