Royal Bank of Scotland- Fortis- Santander consortium acquires ABN Amro in world''s biggest banking takeover

Mumbai: The Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium of European banks emerged victors in the takeover battle for Dutch group ABN Amro, sealing the biggest takeover in banking history.

The consortium, which also comprises Belgian-Dutch group Fortis and Spain''s Banco Santander, bid nearly $100 billion (€71 billion) for the Dutch lender.

The RBS consortium had already won the battle last week when rival bidder Barclays pulled out.

The RBS-led grouping declared its offer "wholly unconditional" after shareholders representing about 86 per cent of ABN stock accepted the bid.

In contrast, British bank Barclays, which initiated the acquisition for ABN Amro with an offer worth around €63 billion, secured the support of less than 1.0 per cent of ABN Amro shareholders.

Acquision by the RBS group is set to herald the break-up of ABN Amro, established in 1824 and once regarded as one of the jewels in the crown of the Dutch economy. ABN Amro is also likely to shed up to 19,000 jobs in the process.

The Royal Bank of Scotland is one of the oldest banks in the UK and has offices in Europe, the United States and Asia.

It was founded by royal charter in Edinburgh in 1727 and by 1970, following further mergers, it enjoyed more than 40 per cent of Scotland''s banking business.

RBS currently employs nearly 9,000 of its near-140,000 staff in London and has a market value of £57.7 billion and was pulling in £291 profit a second at the end of last year.