Dutch court to rule on ABN's LaSalle
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch Supreme Court will issue its ruling on ABN AMRO's AAH.AS suspended sale of its U.S. unit LaSalle on Friday and the decision could sway an acrimonious takeover battle for the Dutch bank.
The court is considering whether to unfreeze the suspended sale of LaSalle Bank to Bank of America (ABC.N) for $21 billion. The smaller bank's fate could tip the balance in a deal potentially worth nearly $100 billion which would be the biggest-ever bank takeover.
Britain's Barclays (BARC.L), which has offered to buy ABN for nearly 63 billion euros ($86 billion), is up against a consortium of three banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) which says it is willing to pay 71 billion euros ($97 billion).
Barclays' all-share offer for ABN is backed by ABN's management but is contingent on the sale of LaSalle. The consortium, on the other hand, has said LaSalle must remain part of ABN as a condition of its offer, which is partly in cash.
Most analysts believe the Dutch Supreme Court will take the advice given two weeks ago by the Dutch Advocate General, who was tasked to give an opinion on the case and said ABN should be allowed to sell LaSalle without a shareholder vote.
The sale of LaSalle to Bank of America was frozen in early May after a commercial court in Amsterdam said ABN should have asked shareholders for approval for the deal, even if it was not required to do so under legal regulations.
ABN, as well as Bank of America, appealed the commercial court's surprise decision and the Dutch Supreme Court agreed to expedite its deliberation on the case.
The Supreme Court said on Tuesday it would rule on the case on Friday, July 13 at 0800 GMT.
Ahead of the ruling, ABN confirmed on Tuesday that it was cooperating with a NYSE Euronext investigation into trading in its stock around the time in March when ABN said it was in talks with Barclays, first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
"We are fully cooperating with the request," an ABN spokesman said.
Barclays wants to buy ABN to create an Anglo-Dutch bank, while RBS and its partners Santander (SAN.MC) and Fortis (FOR.BR) plan to split ABN amongst themselves.
ABN shares were down slightly by 0.3 percent, at 34.55 euros at 0810 GMT, while Amsterdam's blue-chip index .AEX posted a modest 0.3 percent rise.
PATHS DIVERGE
Most analysts expect one of three rulings.
The court could unfreeze the LaSalle sale, making it likely Bank of America will buy the Chicago-based bank. Continued...
