(Belga) Several institutional NewB cooperators have asked to recover their investment in the cooperative, which is embarking on a partnership with the Flemish cooperative bank VDK following losing its banking licence.
According to La Libre Belgique, UCLouvain and public investors from Brussels (finance&invest brussels) and Wallonia (W.Alter) have decided to ask for reimbursement of their shares in NewB. The two public bodies had announced at the end of 2021, during a fundraiser which had enabled NewB to raise 35 million euros, an investment of up to one million euros. As for UCLouvain, its contribution to NewB, then granted jointly with UCLouvain Saint-Louis – Brussels, reached 200,000 euros. The question is to know if other institutional cooperators will want to take back their marbles now that NewB has made a shift by joining forces with VDK Bank. Still according to La Libre Belgique, the ULB might also withdraw from the cooperative. After losing its banking license in October 2022, failing to raise the additional 40 million euros demanded by the National Bank, NewB concluded a merger with the VDK bank, whose headquarters are in Ghent. At a new extraordinary general meeting this Saturday, January 14, the NewB cooperators finally approved by an overwhelming majority the cooperation with the cooperative bank VDK. The latter will take over NewB’s clientele. The two partners will enter into an exclusive agreement whereby NewB will become the intermediary for French-speaking clients of the VDK bank in terms of banking and investment services. From April, customers will have access to VDK Bank’s products and services and NewB will operate as banking and investment agent for the Flemish bank. (Belga)
