The banking consortium which is battling with Barclays to take over Dutch banking group ABN Amro has upped the cash component of its offer from 79% to 93%. The remaining 7% will be paid in Royal Bank of Scotland shares.

The consortium, which also includes Fortis and Santander, said the offer remains at €38.40 per share, valuing the package at €71.1bn.
The consortium has revised its bid following last week’s high court ruling which gave ABN Amro the right to sell LaSalle to Bank of America. RBS had wanted to take over the Chicago-based bank.
The Barclays offer for ABN Amro is an all-share deal. Sources told the Financieele Dagblad it was also planning to include a cash component following the LaSalle sale.
The FD also reports that pending the High Court ruling, ABN Amro had asked merchant bank Rothschild to look into the option of the Dutch bank retaining its independence.
The paper says CEO Rijkman Groenink has made several references to a stand-alone situation for the bank. The bank declined to comment on the report.