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Revision as of 14:33, 16 September 2005

ABN AMRO is the largest bank in the Netherlands and has operations all over the world, its history going back to 1824.

It is the result of the merger in 1991 of Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN) and AMRO - the Amsterdamsche-Rotterdamsche Bank. Note the bank standard is to always write ABN AMRO entirely in capital letters - as it is an abbreviation not an ordinary proper name.

ABN AMRO ranks 11th in Europe and 20th in the world based on tier 1 capital, with over 3,000 branches in more than 60 countries, a staff of more than 97,000 full-time equivalents and total assets of EUR 742.9 billion (as at 31 March 2005).

The U.S. Operations of ABN AMRO consist of LaSalle Bank in Chicago and Standard Federal Bank in Detroit which operate under the name LaSalle National Corporation. Standard Federal Bank will be changing its name to LaSalle Bank Midwest, effective September 12, 2005.

The third home market is Brazil with its subsidiary Banco Real. Banco Real recently completed an acquisition of Sudameris, a peer bank in the Brazilian market.

Events in 2005

On 15 September2005, Ending a nine-month Italian takeover battle, Banca Popolare Italiana Scarl said it plans to sell its 29.4% stake in Banca Antoniana Popolare Veneta SpA to Dutch lender ABN Amro Holding NV, paving the way for the first foreign takeover of an Italian bank. The deal raised expectations that the Dutch lender will pick off other Italian banks in a market still considered splintered, even after a round of mergers in recent years has created a small group of dominant lenders. "ABN Amro will become one of the important players for the future consolidation of the Italian banking sector," predicted analyst Joost Buchner at Dutch bank F. van Lanschot NV in a note to investors Thursday.After a board meeting that ended just before midnight on Wednesday, Lodi, Italy-based Popolare Italiana said it would conduct exclusive negotiations with ABN Amro aimed at finalizing a deal over the target, known as Antonveneta. That is expected to occur by Sept. 21, and it is conditional on the Milan court unfreezing Popolare Italiana's shares in Antonveneta that were impounded in July as well as authorization from regulatory authorities. In the face of the agreement between the former rivals, neither task is expected to be difficult. As expected, Popolare Italiana said it would receive €26.5 per share for its Antonveneta stake, or a total of about €2.4 billion ($2.9 billion). That is the same price ABN Amro had offered in its failed public bid for Antonveneta, and it suggests a valuation for all of the Padova-based bank of €8.2 billion. When added to the nearly 30% stake already in its possession, ABN Amro will gain outright control of Antonveneta. The deal also pushes the Dutch lender over the threshold in Italy at which a mandatory bid must be made to all shareholders. Popolare Italiana said ABN Amro planned to re-extend the €26.50 bid to all shareholders, although analysts say it could pay less than €25 per share, according to the formula by which mandatory bid prices are set in Italy. Buchner, in his note, stated that the acquisition price is relatively expensive, but he added that it's nonetheless a good move for the Dutch because it will provide more clarity for its shareholders and clients and give it a strong foothold in Italy. The transaction had been expected any day after Popolare Italiana's board on Friday said it would intensify negotiations with ABN Amro aimed at a sale of the stake. It comes after ABN Amro's play for Antonveneta earlier this summer had appeared doomed to failure when Popolare Italiana presented its own €27.50 cash-and-share offer and ABN Amro's all-cash offer was virtually untouched by shareholders. Stock market regulator Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa, known as Consob, also required Popolare Italiana to make a mandatory €24.47 all-cash offer for Antonveneta after finding that the lender had acted in concert with other investors to gain control. Both Popolare Italiana bids were blocked in July by Consob and the Bank of Italy, as prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into Popolare Italiana's stake-building. Popolare Italiana chief executive Gianpiero Fiorani, the architect of an aggressive strategy of growth through acquisitions, was suspended from his post, and he is now expected to possibly resign. Meanwhile, a Milan court impounded the Antonveneta shares of Popolare Italiana and investor allies owning roughly another 10%. Sources said that freezing those shares was an impediment that led to a quick deal between ABN Amro and Popolare Italiana. Analysts said expectations that regulators would not likely allow Popolare Italiana to resuscitate its bid forced the lender to the bargaining table. ABN Amro's own comeback coincides with growing pressure for Bank of Italy Gov. Antonio Fazio to resign, even as Fazio has shown no signs of succumbing. The Dutch bank claimed that Italy's central bank unfairly favored Popolare Italiana in the takeover battle. Transcripts of leaked wiretaps published this summer showing an intimately close relationship between Popolare Italiana's Fiorani and Fazio didn't dispel that notion. Indeed, as ABN Amro and Popolare Italiana get ready to bury the hatchet, European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said Thursday that an agreement between the two does not automatically end the Commission's ongoing investigation into whether Italian banking authorities undermined the Commission's monopoly of reviewing mergers with a community dimension. ABN Amro's difficulties with the Bank of Italy came even though the Commission had already given a green light to ABN Amro's bid in April, saying it didn't raise competition concerns. "We are continuing to follow events in Italy, and we have not reached any conclusions yet," Todd said. "The fact that this deal is apparently going on wouldn't necessarily mean that the examination would be closed."

• Banks of the Netherlands
• Companies of the Netherlands
• Dutch multinational
• Multinational corporations