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A Dutch court ruling to block the sale of American based LaSalle by ABN Amro is in favour of shareholders, who argued that the deal was set to fend off a rival offer by the RBS consortium. The EU called the takeover battle a 'watershed for shareholder rights'.
The move comes as a Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium, including Spanish Satander and Belgian Fortis, is rivalling Barclays' €67 billion takeover bid with a €72bn offer for ABN Amro.
A takeover of ABN Amro by either of the two bidders would constitute the largest merger ever undertaken in the banking sector (see EurActiv 14 March 2007).
The Commission had earlier warned Dutch authorities not to interfere in the takeover bid. The EU has recently shaken up its rules on mergers and acquisitions in the banking sector, in order to make them more transparent and to fend-off protectionist interventions by national authorities.
On 3 May 2007, a Dutch court ruled against ABN Amro selling-off its American based subsidiary, LaSalle, for €15.5 billion to Bank of America (BoA), arguing that investors had to be consulted ahead of the deal.
The takeover agreement between ABN Amro and Barclays, which could make way for the creation of the world’s fifth largest bank, heralds the sell-off of LaSalle to BoA. UK's second-largest bank, Barclays, had threatened to sue ABN Amro for breaking their agreement.
However, the Dutch shareholder group VEB, which has contested the sell-off before a tribunal in the Netherlands, had argued that the LaSalle deal was a "poison pill" set to fend-off the offer by the RBS consortium. The group had demanded that the deal to be put to shareholders approval.
The Royal Bank of Scotland consortium is said to be keen to incorporate LaSalle as part of its ABN Amro takeover in order to merge it with its existing US operations.
Speaking at a meeting of European Association of Listed Companies (EALC) on 2 May 2007, Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said the takeover battle was a "watershed for shareholder rights, not only in the Netherlands, but also throughout the EU". He added that whatever the result, it would be a "good outcome for shareholder democracy in the EU".
The Dutch court decision will possibly trigger further legal action. Bank of America is likely to take ABN Amro to court for breach of its contract to sell LaSalle.
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