RBS reveals intention to table ABN Amro bid

Royal Bank of Scotland has turned up the pressure on ABN Amro after today revealing it intended to make a hostile bid for the Dutch group.

The pledge to press ahead with a public offer to shareholders comes despite ABN’s earlier backing of a £45.7bn (€67bn) deal with Barclays.

In a statement, RBS and its bid partners Fortis and Santander said: “The banks continue to believe that their proposals offer materially higher value for ABN Amro’s shareholders and benefits to customers and employees compared with the recommended offer from Barclays.”

It called on the supervisory and managing boards of ABN Amro to discuss the bank’s proposals as soon as possible.

RBS said earlier this week it was considering an offer worth around £49.1bn (€72bn), with the three banks expected to divide up ABN’s operations.

ABN’s LaSalle unit in Chicago is expected to go to RBS, but it emerged this week that the business had been sold to Bank of America for £10.5bn (€15.4bn).

Under Dutch takeover regulations, the consortium said it is not allowed to give details of the offer price indicated to the ABN board.

The consortium's hopes were lifted yesterday when 68% of ABN shareholders supported an AGM resolution calling for the company to "sell, spin-off or merger some or all of the major businesses".

Shareholders were also critical of the decision to sell LaSalle without their approval. And the stormy meeting in The Hague heard complaints about ABN’s condition that the consortium can only carry out due diligence if the banks do not make a hostile offer for 12 months.