RBS consortium likely to buy ABN: ABN CEO

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium will most likely buy ABN AMRO as Barclays' rival offer for the Dutch bank has little chance of matching the consortium's bid financially, ABN's chief executive told Dutch TV on Sunday.

The mostly cash bid of RBS, Belgian-Dutch financial group Fortis and Spain's Santander, is currently worth about 70.2 billion euros ($97.4 billion), while Barclays' part cash, part share offer is worth about 58.5 billion euros.

"The possibility is fairly small that Barclays shares will rise so that its bid for ABN AMRO will top the consortium's bid," ABN's CEO Rijkman Groenink told Dutch news program NOS Journaal.

Barclays' offer is currently 58 percent in shares, and the value of its offer fell 6.5 billion euros in two months time as its shares have dropped about 18 percent since half July when worries about the U.S. subprime mortgage market started to weigh on shares, financials in particular.

"We really have to anticipate that the markets will not change in the coming weeks," Groenink said.

Asked whether a takeover by Barclays would be feasible, Groenink said: "Probably not."

Although the consortium is making a cash-rich offer for ABN, they have yet to raise part of the funds. Most keenly watched is a 13 billion euros rights issue by Fortis because the recent credit squeeze has raised the cost for banks seeking to raise money.

ABN BREAK-UP

ABN stuck to its neutral stance on the two competing bids saying in a statement that a takeover by Barclays fit with ABN's strategy of keeping the Dutch bank in one piece but that the RBS-led consortium's bid was financially superior.