RBS, in alliance with Fortis and Santander clinched the deal following acceptance from 86 per cent of ABN Amro’s shareholders.
It was initially believed that Barclays would launch a successful takeover of the organisation, with ABN’s management giving its initial backing to the bank, before reneging on its support and calling for a ‘level playing field’ between bidders. It was also confirmed to the stock exchange that the RBS consortium offer was worth more than 10 billion euros more than the Barclays bid, with RBS bidding 71 billion euros for the Dutch bank.
Commenting on the sale, a spokesperson for the RBS consortium, said: “The minimum acceptance condition to the offer has been satisfied.”
A number of industry commentators have speculated that the recent non-conforming market turbulence could see a number of acquisitions and takeovers, such as that of ABM Amro by the RBS consortium; and the International Monetary Fund, in a speech delivered on the World Economic Outlook stated that the crisis, was ‘not a storm in a teacup.’ It added: ‘with financial markets around the world now being affected by the fallout from the U.S. non-conforming mortgage difficulties, a broader economic slowdown cannot be ruled out.”
Get the daily news delivered to your inbox
Find the latest industry jobs
Register for the next forum
