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Nick Wells, product and communications director at Artemis, said Fortis's purchase of equity held by Artemis staff was "not our preferred outcome" and had been caused by market turbulence.

He said: "Fortis has not only made clear it wishes to sell Artemis, but also to preserve the previous equity participation."

He said Fortis had unsuccessfully sought to sell its majority stake to a third party before buying equity from Artemis staff.

"Given the huge market volatility, it was not possible to conclude a deal," he said. "As to what the outcome is going to be, your guess is as good as mine."

Artemis said the board, executive and fund management team did not change as a result of the transaction. The day-to-day running of the company remains independent of Fortis.

Fortis may need to sell Artemis to help recapitalise following its €11.2bn (£8.9bn) bail-out by the Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg governments last week. The €397m cost of buying the 32.9 per cent stake currently values the company at €1.2bn.

Dick Turpin, managing director at Artemis, said the company supported the sale to a third party on the condition the new owner did not change company management and respected its culture and investment style.

Fortis acquired the stake in Artemis as part of its purchase of ABN Amro Asset Management.

Fortis prompted a big shake-up in the ABN Amro Asset Management business after it merged the company with its own asset management division Fortis Investments, but this had not affected the Artemis culture until now.