The dismantling of the Fortis financial group moved one step closer on Friday when a Belgian court reversed an earlier ruling that had placed the stricken group’s fate in the hands of sceptical shareholders.

The Belgian court ruled that all shareholders would be eligible to vote on the sale of the group’s remaining banking activities to BNP Paribas and not just those investors who had been on the share register at the time of the assets’ nationalisation in October.