| Overview |
On 17 October 2007 the majority of ABN AMRO’s Holding share capital was acquired by the consortium of banks through RFS Holdings B.V. The consortium consists of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (‘RBS’), Fortis N.V., Fortis SA/NV (‘Fortis’) and Banco Santander S.A. It was the outcome of a process under which ABN AMRO’s shareholders were able to choose between two competing offers for ABN AMRO one from Barclays and one from the consortium. In early November, the consortium announced that they had acquired 98.8% of the ordinary shares of ABN AMRO Holding, 86.1% of the formerly convertible preference shares and 98.8% of the convertible financing preference shares. A ‘squeeze-out’ procedure was started shortly after the acquisition to buy out the remaining shareholders and initiatives to delist ABN AMRO shares from Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange were taken. The delisting is expected to be effective 25 April 2008.
At the request of the Dutch Central Bank, RBS has assumed the lead responsibility for ensuring that ABN AMRO is managed in compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements. |