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Barclays wins Dutch court ruling in bid for ABN Amro

Barclays Plc won a victory in its 63.2 billion euro (US$87.1 billion) bid to buy ABN Amro Holding NV after a Dutch court cleared ABN Amro's sale of its Chicago-based unit, LaSalle Bank.

The Dutch Supreme Court yesterday said there were "no grounds" to block the sale, overturning a lower court ruling that said ABN Amro should have asked shareholders to approve its US$21 billion sale of LaSalle to Bank of America Corp. The decision removes the main legal obstacle to Barclays' agreement to buy the rest of ABN Amro in the world's biggest banking takeover.

The ruling puts Barclays a step closer to becoming the world's No. 6 bank by assets and may allow Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America to gain the largest branch network in the state of Michigan. The decision is a setback for the 70.9 billion euro bid for ABN Amro from a group led by Edinburgh-based Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.

Barclays shares rose 0.6 percent to ?7.23 at 9:40am in London, valuing the company at ?47.3 billion (US$96 billion). Royal Bank shares rose 1.3 percent to ?6.43, and ABN Amro stock fell 0.2 percent to 35.26 euros in Amsterdam.

Barclays, led by chief executive officer John Varley, agreed to buy ABN Amro on April 23 in a deal that would double Barclays's revenue from consumer-banking, galvanize its push into markets such as India and Brazil, and boost securities trading. The UK's third-largest bank by market value is scheduled to send its formal offer to shareholders by July 23.

For Bank of America, the second-largest US bank after Citigroup Inc, the purchase of LaSalle would make it the biggest bank in Michigan and Chicago, ahead of JPMorgan Chase & Co. LaSalle would be Bank of America's largest acquisition since it bought MBNA Corp for about US$35 billion two years ago.

Bank of America "is extremely happy" with the judgment and aims to complete the LaSalle takeover as soon as possible, spokesman Frans van der Grint said yesterday.

Royal Bank CEO Fred Goodwin will probably put together a new pitch for ABN Amro that excludes LaSalle, said Alain Tchibozo, an analyst at ING Financial Markets. Royal Bank, Britain's No. 2 bank after HSBC Holdings Plc, made its offer with Banco Santander SA, the biggest Spanish bank, and Fortis, Belgium's largest financial services firm, on April 25.

The Supreme Court's ruling comes almost three months after Dutch shareholder group VEB sought to block the sale of LaSalle to Bank of America by filing a suit with the Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal.
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