A group led by Royal Bank of Scotland has doubled its stake in ABN AMRO to more than 8 per cent, cutting the cost of its takeover bid for the bank by about 1 per cent, the Financial Timesreported today.
The group, which includes Belgian-Dutch group Fortis and Spain's Santander, built up a stake of more than 4 percent of ABN's share capital, on top of its existing 4 per cent stake via a series of derivatives trades, the newspaper reported.
The group is seeking to acquire ABN, with its offer currently worth about €37.76 per ABN share versus a rival offer of about €31 per ABN share from Barclays. Either bid would be the world's biggest bank takeover.
ABN shares ended at €36.7 yesterday.
The share trading is thought to have in effect reduced the purchase price of ABN by €600 million -€700 million or about 1 per cent of the total consideration, the Financial Times said.
