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Rbs Goes Hostile

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by Felix Salmon
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Apr 27 2007 12:00am EDT

RBS Goes Hostile

It was inevitable, really. Fred Goodwin's RBS has now announced that it is going to make a hostile takeover bid for ABN Amro, in concert with its partners Fortis and Santander. ABN was clearly never negotiating in good faith with Goodwin's group, so now he's going straight to the shareholders, 68% of whom, at ABN's annual meeting, voted in favor of a motion implicitly siding with the Scots.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other banker who's ever made a major hostile takeover bid: Goodwin does seem to be made of stern stuff. The battle lines are now drawn: Goodwin and ABN's shareholders, on the one hand, versus ABN CEO Rijkman Groenink and Barclays CEO John Varley, on the other. Where ABN's unions and the Dutch central bank come down is likely to be crucial.

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