RBS & Co. bids for ABN

A group of banks led by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group has formally launched a $95.6 billion bid for ABN Amro Holding. RBS, Fortis SA/NV and Banco Santander Central Hispano SA said they are offering $40.90 (30.40 euros) in cash and 0.844 RBS share for each share of ABN Amro, valuing the Amsterdam-based bank at $51.66 (38.40 euros) per share based on May 25 prices. The bid trumps the $91 billion takeover proposed by London-based Barclays PLC on April 23. (InvestmentNews, April 23) . As part of the Barclays agreement, Barclays said it would sell Chicago-based LaSalle Bank Corp., a subsidiary of ABN Amro Holding NV, to Bank of America Corp. for more than $21 billion. Under the new plan, RBS said it would pay $36.59 billion to get ABN's North American, Asian, Latin American, investment and corporate banking arms. Fortis would pay $32.29 billion euros to get ABN's private-client and asset-management businesses, and Santander would pay $26.77 billion for ABN's Brazilian and Italian business. The group said that the bid gives ABN's shareholders 79% of the price in cash, "providing greater certainty than Barclays' proposed offer." The bid is subject to conditions including the result of ABN Amro holders' vote on the sale of LaSalle.