The board of ABN Amro has called meetings with Barclays and the RBS-led consortium vying for control of the Dutch bank in a move set to ratchet up pressure on the UK bank, The Financial Times reports.
The board said its meeting with Barclays would be to discuss “its offer and the implications of the consortium’s revised proposed offer.”
ABN insisted Wednesday the decision to meet the RBS-led consortium did not mean its support of the Barclays offer had weakened, but people close to the deal said inviting the other side to “powwow” would increase pressure on Barclays to raise its bid.
The move prompted a cessation of hostilities between ABN and VEB, the Dutch shareholders’ association, which has withdrawn a request scheduled for on Thursday for Amsterdam’s Enterprise Court to appoint three independent directors to oversee the sale of the bank.