ABN AMRO to open books to RBS, Fortis, Santander
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch bank ABN AMRO said it will open its books to a Royal Bank of Scotland Plc led consortium, which has made a 72 billion-euro ($98.2 billion) offer for the bank, threatening a lower bid by Barclays.
ABN, which agreed earlier this week to a 65 billion-euro buyout deal with Barclays, said RBS, Belgian-Dutch group Fortis
and Spain's Santander could look at its books, subject to confidentiality agreements.
There was no immediate reaction from the three banks, although RBS Chief Executive Fred Goodwin told reporters on Wednesday that he did not expect to spend a lot of time on due diligence: "We are not proposing to conduct an audit or take a month poring over the books."
A source familiar with the matter said the consortium expected to spend less than 10 days for due diligence.
But by opening its books, ABN, increases the chance it and it's U.S. unit LaSalle will be at the centre of a bidding war. ABN agreed to sell LaSalle to Bank of America for $21 billion earlier this week in a related deal.
ABN agreed to open its books after Chief Executive Rijkman Groenink spoke to the three banks last night to discuss their offer. He has not changed his view that the merger with Barclays is the "best option" for shareholders.
Groenink invited rival bidders -- which at the moment is only the consortium -- to bid separately for LaSalle and ABN in order to take over the group.
"Anyone can still bid for LaSalle and for the rest of the group ... It only has to be done with two bids instead of one," Groenink said in comments made available to Reuters.
"We have a very strong offer on the table and others can top that bid, so that we are certain to receive the best bid in the interests of shareholders," Groenink said.
The RBS-led consortium's offer is 39 euros per share, while Barclays' all-stock offer translates into 34.28 euros per share at current prices. At 0925 GMT on Thursday, ABN shares were up 0.8 percent at 36.49 euros.
Barclays was trading at 723 pence, down slightly, while RBS was down 1 percent at 1,978 pence.
Analysts said the consortium has a decent chance of winning ABN, although it may have to unravel the LaSalle deal, either by beating Bank of America's offer for LaSalle or possibly taking legal action.
"The RBS/SAN/Fortis offer is superior to Barclays, in our view, but the analysis is more complicated in practice," ING analyst Sigrid Baas said in a note. "We think chances of success are reliant on a successful bid for LaSalle and/or sufficient shareholder or legal pressure."
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