Mixed message

Travellers on the same train travel to different destinations. That thought seems to apply to Fortis. On Monday, 95% of the participating Belgo-Dutch bank’s shareholders voted in favour of participating in a consortium bid for ABN Amro, which will require a E13bn rights issue. But many shareholders may not have been genuinely enthusiastic about the plan. Start with hedge funds that have shorted Fortis stock. They were already sitting on big paper profits before Monday - Fortis shares had fallen...