ABN Amro would not submit to the Dutch Court decision blocking the sale of its US arm LaSalle to Bank of America. Yesterday, the Dutch banking giant said that it planned to challenge the court’s decision to freeze the sale of LaSalle bank for $21 billion (15.5 billion euros.)
The Amsterdam Superior Court’s decision had brought to a standstill the proposed merger plans between ABN Amro and Barclays. The deal has been wrought by battles between shareholders and management and counter bids by other parties. ABN will file an appeal in the Dutch Supreme Court, but the company will still hold an extraordinary general meeting to try to get the deal approved by its shareholders.
Earlier, a shareholder upset over the proposed sale, which many view as a deal seeking to stop rivals from breaking up the much bigger Barclays deal, filed a petition in the Dutch court. The Dutch court obliged him with a favorable verdict stating that the LaSalle agreement required shareholders’ approval. The deal was also a target of a counter bid by a consortium led by the Royal Bank of Scotland. RBS made a rival bid of $24.5 billion for LaSalle.
Wednesday, saw ABN clear its stance on the bank’s decision. The bank said:
ABN Amro is of the view that it is in the interests of the company and its shareholders to launch such an appeal.
It is still quite unclear whether any deal, if any, would take place. The current price of ABN’s shares is nearer to the offer made by Barclays. This factor might tilt the balance in favor of Barclays. Either way, a takeover, if and when it happens, would be the largest in banking history.
