Dutch top court may lean to Barclays

In an advisory opinion issued today, Dutch Advocate General Levinus Timmerman said that ABN Amro Holding NV does not need shareholder approval for the $21 billion sale of its LaSalle unit to Bank of America, according to Bloomberg. The statement by the Advocate General, whose rulings are followed about 80 percent of the time by the Dutch Supreme Court, is a blow to rival bidders Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, Banco Santander SA and Fortis, who have joined forces to buy LaSalle as part of a $95.5 billion acquisition of ABN Amro. While a lower court said that the shareholders should have been consulted on the LaSalle sale, Mr. Timmerman said that their right to approve a merger “must be founded on a widely accepted legal conviction, which is not the case in the present matter,” the Associated Press reported. The sale is legal under Dutch law and the lower court’s decision should be overturned, Mr. Timmerman said. Barclays’ $83 billion purchase of ABN Amro depends on LaSalle’s sale to Bank of America, while the RBS-led consortium wants to buy the U.S. bank to keep Barclays out of the deal. ABN Amro said that it was studying Mr. Timmerman’s opinion, noting that it was an “opinion and not a judgment,” the AP reported. A ruling on the matter by The Hague-based Supreme Court is expected in mid-July.