Dutch Supreme Court: ABN Amro Can Proceed with LaSalle Sale

The Dutch Supreme Court announced Friday that banking giant ABN Amro can go ahead with its $21 billion sale of LaSalle Bank to Bank of America, a precondition of ABN's own sale to Barclays for €64 billion ($88.2 billion) in stock. The Court has "dismissed irrevocably" a request for an injunction to suspend the sale, in line with advice given the Court two weeks ago by the Dutch Advocate General that a shareholder vote is not required for the sale to go through. ABN is the subject of a contest between Barclays, whose offer ABN has accepted, and a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland [RBS], which offered a €71 billion counterbid -- provided LaSalle was included in the deal. Angry investors, who viewed ABN's sale of LaSalle to BoA as a poison pill designed to thwart RBS's higher offer, sued to freeze the deal. Pali International analyst Bruce Packard said he considers it "very likely that the RBS-led consortium comes back with an offer ex-LaSalle." "I don't think giving up is in [RBS CEO] Fred Goodwin's vocabulary," said Oriel Securities analyst Mike Trippitt. BoA, which had threatened to sue ABN if the Court ruled in favor of freezing the sale, is "extremely happy" with the decision and plans to complete the LaSalle takeover as soon as possible.

Sources: Reuters I, II, Bloomberg, Alphaville [Financial Times]
Commentary: Dutch Advocate General: ABN's Sale of LaSalle Does Not Require Shareholder Vote • Atticus Capital: We Can Block Barclays' Bid for ABN • Bank of America Postpones ABN Amro Suit
Stocks/ETFs to watch: ABN Amro Holding N.V. (ABN), Barclays PLC (BCS), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc [ADR] (RBSPY.PK), Fortis NV [ADR] (FORSY). Competitors: HSBC Holdings plc ADR (HBC), Deutsche Bank AG (DB), UBS AG (UBS). ETFs: iShares MSCI Netherlands Index (EWN), streetTRACKS KBW Bank (KBE), HOLDRS Regional Bank (RKH)

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Comments

[NutritionFacts]

Those charts look uncannily similar.

[SA EditorEli Hoffmann]

Thanks. Fixed that.