RBoS consortium puts indicative offer for ABN at 39 eur per share UPDATE

RBoS consortium puts indicative offer for ABN at 39 eur per share UPDATE

	Published : Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:05 By : Agencies Print this Story

(Updates with details of the consortium offer)

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and its consortium partners Banco Santander Central Hispano SA and Fortis NV said they have made an indicative offer for ABN Amro Holding NV at 39 eur per share, some 13 pct higher than the value of the Barclays PLC offer as of the market close yesterday.

The offer would comprise 70 pct cash and 30 pct in RBoS shares and the consortium said it believes that the execution risk would be lower than in a transaction with Barclays.

The consortium said making firm its offer for ABN Amro depends on it gaining limited due diligence, and ABN Amro taking steps to ensure that LaSalle Bank remains within the ABN Amro group, adding that it will work with ABN Amro to facilitate this.

The pre-conditions also include limited due diligence on no more information than received by Barclays and Bank of America. The consortium said it would be able to complete this due diligence within a very short period of time.

The consortium said because of the materially higher value of its offer, it is in ABN Amro's stakeholders' interests for the supervisory and management boards to co-operate with the consortium so that it can develop their proposals into a formal offer.

RBoS cancelled a meeting with ABN Amro on Monday after ABN said it was proposing to sell LaSalle Bank to Bank of America Corp for 21 bln usd.

But the consortium said today ABN Amro asked for further details about its proposals yesterday and has accepted a new invitation to meet with ABN Amro.

RBoS will lead the consortium's reorganisation of ABN Amro and will take on the primary responsibility of ensuring that the Dutch bank meets its regulatory requirements from completion of a transaction.

tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com

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