Amsterdam shares near-flat at midday; ABN Amro slips following consortium bid

Amsterdam shares near-flat at midday; ABN Amro slips following consortium bid

	Published : Tue, 29 May 2007 11:43 By : Agencies Print this Story

AMSTERDAM (Thomson Financial) - Amsterdam shares were mostly flat at midday amid the mild investor response to the formal bid for ABN Amro by the Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium, with ABN Amro and consortium member Fortis losing ground on the AEX, dealers said.

At 12.14 pm, the AEX was down 0.03 points or 0.01 pct at 537.52, after opening at a high of 538.42 and dipping as low of 537.00.

Government bonds traded mostly higher and the euro stood at 1.3481 usd versus 1.3455 usd late yesterday.

Vedior led decliners, dipping 1.13 pct to 21.95, while peer Randstad lost 0.95 pct to 59.62. USG People fared better on the midcap, rising 0.54 pct to 36.13 eur.

Numico also declined, giving up 0.94 pct to 37.00 while food products peer Unilever was 0.09 pct higher at 22.17 and supermarket retailer Ahold was flat at 9.32.

Among financials, ABN Amro surrendered 0.86 pct to 35.79 eur following the formalised bid for the Dutch bank announced today by a consortium that includes RBS, Banco Santander and Fortis.

The 38.40 eur per share offer values ABN Amro at 71.1 bln eur, but an Amsterdam-based trader said 'some investors with less patience are moving out of ABN Amro' because of conditions attached to the bid.

Consortium partner Fortis, which is expected to put up 24 bln eur as part of the bid, dipped 0.58 pct to 31.12.

Among other decliners, Rodamco Europe shed 0.98 pct to 103.54 eur, Corporate Express was 0.62 lighter at 9.60 and TomTom was 0.46 pct weaker at 32.33.

Among top gainers, KPN added 1.28 pct at 12.63, ASML added 1.14 pct at 18.70 and Philips stood 1.05 pct taller at 30.66.

Reed Elsevier outperformed, climbing 0.89 pct at 14.70 after it was upgraded to 'buy' from 'hold' by Deutsche Bank, with the brokerage saying in a note it anticipates a solid 'as-is' operational performance from Reed, possibly underpinned by another round of restructuring.

Reed peer Wolters Kluwer also gained, firming 0.31 pct to 22.98.

Among other blue-chip heavyweights, Heineken added 0.57 pct to 42.57 and TNT gained 0.52 pct to 33.10.

Real estate trust Wereldhave led midcap decliners, dipping 1.68 pct to 105.60 while peer Corio lost 0.49 pct to 62.57.

Crucell was 1.45 pct lower at 19.68, ASMI was 0.49 pct weaker at 62.57 and Tele Atlas was down 0.25 pct at 15.91.

Among midcap gainers, specialty investment service company Van der Moolen got a 0.85 pct boost to 3.54 eur.

Ordina rose 0.86 pct at 16.44 eur while locally listed peer Unit 4 Agresso soared 5.5 pct to 20.34 after it announced a record 40 pct increase in high-end orders so far this year.

Stork climbed 0.36 pct to 38.56 while CSM added 0.63 and heavy construction company BAM firmed 0.4 pct to 20.21. Earlier, BAM announced it would transfer ownership of UK public-private partnership projects with receivables totalling 250 mln eur to a joint venture with the Dutch Infrastructure Fund.

Dredger Boskalis meanwhile increased 0.25 pct to 27.57 eur on solid in-line earnings at peer Ackermans & Van Haaren.

Dave van Ginhoven, dave.vanginhoven@thomson.com

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