ABN Amro Barclays: what to divest?

Wednesday 21 March 2007

With the takeover of ABN Amro by Barclays out in the open, analysts are now speculating on what parts of the combined bank would be sold off to raise cash for shareholders – if the deal goes through.

US bank LaSalle, Saudi Hollandi Bank and Brazilian unit Banco Real are seen as the most likely options, ANP reports. Citibank is known to be particularly interested in LaSalle, ANP said.

On Tuesday evening, it emerged that the new combine would be headquartered in Amsterdam with a single-tiered board. The holding company would be a PLC, incorporated in the UK, with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and secondary listing in Amsterdam.

The first chairman would be nominated by ABN Amro and the first CEO by Barclays. Shell and other Anglo-Dutch combines have similar single-tier boards; in which the chairman is roughly the equivalent of the president of a Dutch company’s supervisory board.

However, the two banks stressed that the talks were at an ‘early and exploratory stage’ and that ‘there can be no certainty that they will lead to a transaction or on the form it will take’. A combination of the two banks would create the fifth biggest banking group in the world and the second biggest in Europe.

© DutchNews.nl

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