KEY POINTS:
Angry scenes erupted at ABN Amro's annual meeting yesterday as its chief executive, Rijkman Groenink, defended plans to merge with Barclays
It came as an increasingly aggressive Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium accused ABN of imposing unreasonable conditions on granting access to its books.
The $122 billion deal is being billed as the world's biggest-ever financial services takeover.
At the meeting Groenink said Barclays was the "ideal partner" for ABN, and that the two banks had been in on-off discussions for two years. He said ABN had been actively considering surrendering its independence since November, long before the rebel shareholder TCI precipitated the current furore with a demand that the bank pursue a break-up.
Barclays chief executive John Varley weighed in at his own AGM. He said: "The contrast is pretty stark. On the one hand you have two banks with ambitions of creating one of the leading banks in the world. On the other is the deconstruction of one of Europe's biggest and most important banks [under the consortium's proposals]."
He again denied that the two banks' agreed merger was about size, saying the deal was "in the interests of our shareholders and customers".
Groenink also defended the sale of ABN's US business, LaSalle, to Bank of America - widely seen as a poison pill designed to frustrate the ambitions of RBS, which is desperate to acquire the division. He said ABN was "actively seeking" counter-offers higher than Bank of America's US$21 billion ($28.4 billion) agreed offer under the 14-day "go shop" clause that allows it to solicit higher approaches.
Groenink also said he "wanted" to see a rival bid, and that the desire to secure a quick deal for LaSalle was Bank of America's, not ABN's.
Despite this, some shareholders were not placated. At one point the head of VEB, the Dutch shareholders' association, invaded the stage and had to be restrained as tensions threatened to boil over.
But rebel shareholder TCI, the London-based hedge fund, received less than wholehearted support for its motions. Shareholders backed a vote demanding the bank seek a sale or merger of parts or all of the business, and a vote calling for a sale or merger. They also supported TCI's call for a report to shareholders in six months. But they rejected a demand that ABN return the proceeds of any asset sales to shareholders and a call for the bank not to pursue any major acquisitions for six months.
Royal Bank's consortium includes Spain's Banco Santander and Fortis of Belgium.
- Independent
