RBS consortium bids $95.6 billion for ABN AMRO

A consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland has launched a 71.1 billion euro ($95.6 billion) bid for Dutch group ABN AMRO, trumping Britain's Barclays in a battle for the world's biggest bank takeover. In a long-awaited move, the RBS-led group of banks said they had raised the cash element of their offer from their original proposal but that the bid was conditional on the disputed purchase of ABN's U.S. bank arm.

The consortium of RBS, Fortis and Santander has so far been rebuffed by ABN management, which has agreed to a takeover by Barclays. The consortium said it would prefer to agree on a deal with ABN's management but indicated it would go direct to shareholders if necessary. RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin said the backing of about 70% of ABN's shareholders last month for a proposal to sell or merge parts of its business indicated support for the consortium's proposal.

The banks said a condition of their offer is that the deal includes the purchase of ABN's U.S. arm, LaSalle Bank, which ABN agreed to sell to Bank of America for $21 billion at the same time that it agreed to be taken over by Barclays. A Dutch commercial court has blocked the LaSalle sale, however, saying ABN shareholders should vote on it. A Dutch Supreme Court is likely to rule on the deal by mid-July.

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