Reuters- 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 on Tuesday 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 offer was pitched at 38.40 euros per ABN share — 30.40 euros in cash plus 0.844 new shares in RBS. It could pressure Barclays to raise its all-share offer, currently valued at 64 billion euros.
“This deal offers better value for ABN shareholders, and we anticipate the consortium winning control,” said Alex Potter, an analyst at Collins Stewart in London.
