ABN Amro has given Barclays bank until late Friday to come up with a takeover offer, two days longer than planned. After the weekend, it will then open talks with the consortium made up of Royal Bank of Scotland, Fortis and Santander to find out more about their intentions, ABN Amro said last night in two press releases.

Sources told the Financieele Dagblad that ABN Amro and Barclays have not yet completed checking each others books and are still talking to the various supervisory authorities. The bidding price is still likely to be the toughest part of the talks, the paper said.
ABN Amro’s share price has risen steadily since the Barclays showed an interest. Yesterday it rose a further 2.3% to €36.40, a sign that some investors are anticipating a bidding war.
Meanwhile, the Dutch central bank said on Wednesday that the proposed bid for ABN Amro by the consortium led by the Royal Bank of Scotland would ‘constitute a strong risk-increasing and complicating factor’. The bank said this would apply to both preparation for the deal and in its execution and implementation.