The international investment advisor ISS has recommended that its clients oppose a hedge fund’s efforts to split up ABN Amro, the Financieele Dagblad reports today.

The ISS represents some 1,700 major investment groups worldwide. The organisation’s director in Europe, Jean-Nicolas Caprasse, told the paper it was good that the bank was under pressure. But given that ABN Amro and Britain’s Barclays bank are in exclusive merger talks, shareholders should give them time to reach a deal, he said.
A sale or split without management support would be too risky, the paper quotes Caprasse as saying.
British hedge fund TCI is to call on ABN Amro to split up and sell off units at its April 26 shareholders meeting.
Sources have told the paper that the merger talks with Barclays are proceeding well and a proposal could even be on the table within a week.