RBS consortium revises ABN Armo bid

by Gill Montia

Story link: RBS consortium revises ABN Armo bid

The consortium headed by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has revised its £48bn offer for ABN Amro, the Dutch bank.

RBS and its bid partners, Santander of Spain and Fortis of Belgium, have raised the cash element of their £48bn offer from 79% to 93%, in a renewed attempt to scupper Barclay’s agreed takeover of ABN.

The move comes just days after the Dutch Supreme Court made a ruling that the £10.5bn sale of ABN’s US banking division LaSalle, to Bank of America, could go ahead.

RBS has been keen to take control of LaSalle as part of the acquisition, whereas Barclays has been in agreement with its disposal.

ABN’s sale of LaSalle had been widely seen as a means of thwarting the RBS bid but despite this, the consortium’s new offer for ABN excludes LaSalle.

Experts in the banking sector now believe that ABN’s board will withdraw its support for Barclays, which has made an all-share bid, valuing ABN at £43 billion.

Barclays’ response is awaited but its chief executive, John Varley, has pointed out that the offer made by the RBS consortium will need to be cleared by both regulators and shareholder.

Despite high level reassurances from both Barclays and RBS, the bidding war is causing concerns that the winner could overpaying for ABN.

The deadline for formal offers from the RBS consortium and Barclays is Monday of next week.