Ruling By Dutch Court Heats Up Battle Over ABN Amro

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court blocked ABN Amro’s planned sale of a Chicago bank on Thursday, a ruling that makes it more likely a group led by Royal Bank of Scotland will capture ABN Amro in the industry’s largest takeover battle.

The court said ABN Amro must seek shareholder approval before it can sell its U.S. subsidiary LaSalle to Bank of America Corp. The ruling was a major setback for ABN Amro management, which had planned to sell LaSalle for $21 billion and then sell the rest of the company to Britain’s Barclays PLC for about $91 billion.

The ruling increases chances that a three-bank consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland PLC will win the bidding war for the Netherlands’ biggest bank. The group has suggested a purchase valued of $98.5 billion.

Either bid for ABN Amro would be the highest price paid for a banking buyout.

Barclays’ bid is now in limbo, since it was both preliminary and dependent on the LaSalle sale, while the RBS consortium has more breathing room to make its preliminary offer official.

The court said the sale of LaSalle was so interwoven with the Barclays takeover bid that it should have been put to shareholders for a vote. ABN had argued the deal was too small to require shareholder approval.

The court “forbids ABN Amro … by means of an immediate injunction … from proceeding with the purchase and sale of (LaSalle) … without previous approval given by a general meeting of shareholders,” said presiding judge Huub Willems, reading the decision of the Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Superior Court.

Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri said the company has “a binding contract and intend to take all necessary steps to protect our legal rights.”

ABN Amro spokesman Neil Moorhouse said the bank “notes the judgment of the Enterprise Chamber and will study the implications of the outcome.”

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