Barclays Plc won the support of a Dutch Supreme Court adviser in its $85 billion battle with Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc to acquire ABN Amro Holding NV, the country’s biggest bank, Bloomberg reports.
The Advocate General, whose rulings are followed about 80 percent of the time by the high court, said ABN Amro doesn’t need permission from shareholders to sell Chicago-based LaSalle to Bank of America Corp.
London-based Barclays has tied its 63 billion ($85 billion) bid for ABN Amro to a separate sale of LaSalle.
The advisory opinion is a setback for a group led by Edinburgh-based Royal Bank, which wants to buy LaSalle as part of a 71.2 billion takeover of Amsterdam-based ABN Amro. The acquisition would be the country’s first by a non-Dutch bank and the largest in the financial-services industry, topping Travelers Group Inc.’s $69.9 billion buyout of Citicorp.
“It’s a surprise ruling, and it looks like bad news for Royal Bank,” says Colin Morton, who helps manage $1.8 billion at Rensburg Sheppards Plc in Leeds, England, including Royal Bank and Barclays stock. “The concerns are that the deal will get caught up in the courts or that someone will end up paying too much to win the day.”