Prime Minister Yves Leterme called an emergency cabinet meeting for Monday night to figure out what to do with the bank as a new chapter opened in the bank's ongoing struggle to survive.

The deal with the French bank, orchestrated by the Belgian government as Fortis battled to avert collapse, was due to close this week until a Brussels Court of Appeals suspended it on Friday.

The court ruled in favour of Fortis' minority shareholders who had challenged the deal on the grounds that they had not been consulted about the takeover and said a vote should be held by February 12 at the latest.

Shares in Fortis, considered among the bluest of Belgian blue chips until the bank ran into trouble, were widely held by individual investors, who saw their investments nearly wiped out when Fortis hit the rocks.

Many small investors considered that the state had rushed to sell Fortis' Belgian banking assets to BNP Paribas at a fire sale price of 14.7 billion euros (S$29 billion).

The court ordered a group of experts to review how the assets were valued to judge whether the price was fair and also said BNP Paribas had to support the Belgian bank in the mean time if needed.

In reaction to the ruling, the Fortis said in a cautious statement on Monday that it 'is currently studying the implications for its legal position'.

'Fortis stresses that the suspension of the transaction with BNP Paribas as a result of the ruling of the Court of Appeal will have no significant negative impact on its current cash position,' it said The Belgian government acknowledged over the weekend that it was caught off guard by the ruling and Leterme and Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders huddled on Saturday to figure out what to do.

Analysts said on Monday that the government would probably try to challenge the court's decision.

'The government apparently wants to open a short-term procedure to disqualify the judge who was responsible for Friday's verdict, saying that there were irregularities in the run-up to the verdict,' said analyst Dirk Peeters at Belgian broker KBC Securities.

'The government might also start up another procedure ..., which would imply that the Brussels' Court of Appeal would have to take another look at the case,' he added.

Deutsche Bank analyst Brice Vandamme said that the court ruling would ultimately strengthen the hand of minority shareholders seeking a better price from BNP Paribas.

The French bank ruled out abandoning its bid in the wake the court's decision, saying shortly after the ruling that it 'in no way calls into question the interest of this deal'. -- AFP