ABN AMRO drops claim on Dutch investor's artworks

* ABN won't pursue Rembrandt, Picasso works as collateral

* Strikes deal to claim 52 million euros on other assets

* Court to rule on April 29 on ABN's claims

By Harro ten Wolde

AMSTERDAM, April 24 (Reuters) - ABN AMRO will drop its legal claims on Dutch investor Louis Reijtenbagh's art collection, which include pieces by Rembrandt and Picasso, as collateral for a 52 million euro ($68.5 million) loan, but is still demanding repayment of the debt, ABN's lawyer said in court on Friday.

ABN AMRO is one of three banks claiming millions from the former doctor, who made a fortune from investments and has been described as one of the wealthiest people in the Netherlands.

Reijtenbagh also faces another court case in New York brought by Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.VX), which has gotten a temporary court order freezing his assets after several investment funds run by the Swiss bank accused Reijtenbagh and his two sons of misusing more than $340 million in loans. [ID:nN31305455].

At a hearing in Amsterdam district court on Friday, ABN AMRO lawyer Tim de Greve said Reijtenbagh had reached an agreement overnight with the bank to allow it to claim assets other than the art collection as collateral.

The bank, owned by the Dutch government, did not provide details on the agreement.

ABN AMRO's original claim was triggered by a separate court case in New York lodged by JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) to secure the art collection, with the U.S. bank saying Reijtenbagh failed to pay back more than $23 million as required.

But Reijtenbagh, in written testimony filed in a New York court on Friday, contended that he and JPMorgan agreed to revise the loan terms in January and that he had complied with those agreements.

Reijtenbagh did not attend the Amsterdam hearing and did not send a lawyer.

An ABN AMRO spokesman said the Reijtenbaghs' art collection can still be claimed but that it will no longer pursue it as collateral.

The court will rule on ABN AMRO's claim on the other assets on April 29.

JPMorgan had alleged that Reijtenbagh unlawfully moved out of the United States a portion of the art collection which was put up as collateral for its loan. [ID:nN03451071].

In his written response to the JPMorgan lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Reijtenbagh said the bank knew in December that several of the artworks were no longer being held in his sons' New York apartment as they had been previously and that they were not available as collateral.

Reijtenbagh said that under the revised terms of their agreement he paid $27 million in substitute collateral into an account at the bank. He also said JPMorgan had made "numerous misrepresentations and innuendoes concerning my personal financial situation and the financial status of my business."

Last week, the Netherlands' largest museum said that because of the dispute it risked losing a 17th-century Dutch masterpiece, Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde's "Golden Bend" to JPMorgan. The museum bought the piece from Reijtenbagh last year. ($1=.7592 euros) (Additional reporting by Martha Graybow in New York; Editing by Greg Mahlich) (harro.tenwolde@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: harro.tenwolde.reuters.com@reuters.net; +31 20 504 5017)