Barclays inches closer to acquiring ABN Amro
British bank Barclays has moved a step closer to buying its Dutch rival ABN Amro. In what is being seen as the world’s biggest banking takeover, Barclays has fixed an all-share offer worth 64 billion euros or USD 88.1 billion for acquiring ABN Amro.
A consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland, however, could trump the deal.
The Dutch Supreme Court has cleared the sale of ABN's US arm LaSalle Bank. The Bank of America will acquire LaSalle bank for USD 21 billion.
Although the courts decision had given a boost to Barclays acquisition dreams, the British mammoth is still keeping its eyes open given the possibilities that the Royal Bank of Scotland may come up with a fresh bid to rival the Barclays USD 87.1 billion offer.
The following are key facts on Barclays and ABN:
Source :- ibnlive.com
British bank Barclays has moved a step closer to buying its Dutch rival ABN Amro. In what is being seen as the world’s biggest banking takeover, Barclays has fixed an all-share offer worth 64 billion euros or USD 88.1 billion for acquiring ABN Amro.
A consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland, however, could trump the deal.
The Dutch Supreme Court has cleared the sale of ABN's US arm LaSalle Bank. The Bank of America will acquire LaSalle bank for USD 21 billion.
Although the courts decision had given a boost to Barclays acquisition dreams, the British mammoth is still keeping its eyes open given the possibilities that the Royal Bank of Scotland may come up with a fresh bid to rival the Barclays USD 87.1 billion offer.
The following are key facts on Barclays and ABN:
BARCLAYS
- Barclays has over 3,600 branches in more than 50 countries, employing 123,000 people. Over half its profit was generated overseas in 2006.
- The London-headquartered bank has six divisions: UK banking; Barclaycard credit card business; international; Barclays Capital investment bank; Barclays Global Investors fund management; and Barclays Wealth.
- It dates back to 1690, as a business helping monarchs and merchants fund ventures around the world. Several family firms were combined thereafter and the Quaker founders were said to have chosen the name Barclay because it came first alphabetically among the list of directors after a big amalgamation in 1896.
- · More acquisitions followed and by 1918 Barclays was one of the UK's "big five" banks. It acquired Martins Bank in 1969 and the Woolwich in 2000.
- Barclaycard was Britain's first credit card 41 years ago. It now has 9.8 million UK customers and 6.4 million international cards in issue, but the unit's profits slumped last year as more customers defaulted on repayments.
- Barclays' chief executive is John Varley. Bob Diamond, an American, heads the fast growing BarCap, BGI and Wealth Management units, while Frits Seegers, from the Netherlands, runs the global consumer banking operations.
- Barclays has sponsored English football's premier league since 2001. In January it bought the naming rights for U.S. basketball's New Jersey Nets' new home in Brooklyn, New York, for $15 million a year.
ABN AMRO
- ABN has more than 4,500 branches in 53 countries employing more than 100,000 people. The Amsterdam-based bank has targeted areas outside its Netherlands home market to fuel growth, with a focus on small- to mid-sized clients.
- ABN AMRO, first formed as the Netherlands Trading Society by King William I in 1824, was forged in 1991 through a merger between Algemeen Bank Nederland (ABN) and Amsterdam-Rotterdam (AMRO) Bank.
- Until 1946 in Shanghai and 1957 in Suriname, the Netherlands Trading Society, an earlier incarnation of ABN AMRO, issued money to facilitate trade and transactions.
- ABN AMRO's chief executive Rijkman Groenink, who once spent three months driving a Land Rover from the Middle East to India, has been called "tough" and "ruthless" by the Dutch press after taking charge of the bank in 2000, due to his cost-cutting measures and past role as a collector of problem loans.
- An Andy Warhol portrait of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands hangs in the lobby of ABN's Amsterdam headquarters.
Source :- ibnlive.com