$98B Bid Offered As Battle for ABN Amro Heats Up

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — One of the largest takeovers in corporate history escalated into a bidding war Wednesday as a group led by Royal Bank of Scotland said it planned a bid worth almost $100 billion for ABN Amro that tops a Barclays’ offer by more than 10 percent.

Shareholders immediately pressured ABN to commit to accepting the highest bid, ahead of the Dutch bank’s annual shareholders’ meeting today, and analysts said the key battleground is LaSalle Bank in the United States. One analyst called LaSalle the “crown jewel” of ABN’s international operations.

Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, Spain’s Banco Santander Central Hispano SA and Belgian-Dutch bank Fortis NV said they would offer around 39.00 euros ($52.95) per share for ABN Amro Holding NV, valuing ABN Amro at roughly 72.2 billion euros ($98.1 billion).

That compares with Barclays PLC’s all-share offer of 36.25 euros announced Monday, which was endorsed by ABN’s management. ABN shares are up more than 35 percent since it entered talks with Barclays last month.

Shares rose 3.5 percent to close at 36.21 euros ($49.17) in Amsterdam on the news — above Barclays’ offer price at the British bank’s current stock price, but below the proposed rival bid by RBS. That means investors have serious doubts about who will win the fight to buy ABN, the Netherlands’ largest retail bank.

The uncertainty centers on whether ABN Amro’s surprise move Monday to sell LaSalle Bank Corp. to Bank of America Corp. for $21 billion, as part of its deal with Barclays, can be undone.

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