The consortium involved in the takeover battle for ABN Amro bank has confirmed that it has increased its stake in the Dutch bank to 3.25% since Friday.

The consortium has bid €71bn to take over ABN Amro which it wants to divide up between the consortium partners, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Dutch-Belgian bank insurer Fortis and Spain’s Santander bank.
In a statement released on Tuesday morning, the group said it had bought 40.76 million ABN shares, at an average price of €33.81.
The consortium said it is interested in more shares within the framework permitted by the authorities. Banks are not allowed to own more than 5% of another bank without regulatory approval.
Yesterday the Dutch finance minister gave the consortium’s rival bidder Barclays permission to go ahead with its offer.
According to the FT, the Dutch authorities said Barclays would have to present a detailed integration plan within two months of the deal being completed and agree not to make any significant changes to ABN Amro before this plan was approved.