One-quarter of the top companies listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange are potential takeover candidates for private equity and strategic buyers according to Iris, the research bureau of Rabobank and Robeco, reports today’s Financieele Dagblad.

If these companies are sold, the AEX index of blue chip firms will lose almost 12% of its value, the paper says.
Heading the list of companies that could be easy prey for takeovers are Ahold, Akzo Nobel, DSM, Hagemeyer, KPN and Reed Elsevier. Two others, Corporate express and Aegon, are not included on the list but are being watched, chief researcher Steef Bergakker told the paper.
If these two firms plus ABN Amro and Numico – both in the throes of takeovers – are added to the list, the AEX would lose 25% of its value said Iris.
And the researchers do not believe there are alternative firms to boost the AEX. ‘Looking at the number of listings, we are at the lowest point since the 1970s,’ researcher Ronald Doeswijk told the Financieele Dagblad.