Barclays has withdrawn its offer for ABN AMRO, as not all the conditions relating to the offer were fulfilled, claims Barclays.
The merger protocol entered into between Barclays and ABN AMRO on 23 April 2007 has been terminated in accordance with its terms, and Barclays is requesting payment of the 200 million break fee to which it claims to be contractually entitled. This break fee will significantly exceed the costs that Barclays incurred in connection with the offer.
The Barclays share buyback programme will be terminated today and will restart without the restrictions specific to the offer as announced on 2 August 2007. The objective of the restarted programme remains to immunise the dilutive effect of the issuance of shares to China Development Bank and Temasek on existing shareholders.
“I thank Barclays shareholders and employees for their overwhelming support for this transaction over the past months. Barclays has strong momentum and I am confident that we will continue to deliver significant growth in the coming years,” says John Varley, Barclays Group CEO.