 Dutch regulators have indicated that they would not object to the acquisition of ABN Amro by a foreign buyer, even if led to the Dutch entity being dismantled for sale.
A report in the UK-based Financial Times quotes Nout Wellink, president of the Dutch Central Bank, as saying that a restructuring presented "no problem whatsoever", if a sound bank with a restructuring proposal were to take over the bank. Earlier Wellink had told a Dutch newspaper that the break-up of ABN Amro would be "a bridge too far". Observers expect the comments to encourage other bidders. So far, Barclays has been in exclusive talks with ABN Amro about a tie-up for the past three weeks. (See: Barclays opens buy out talks with ABN AMRO) The Royal Bank of Scotland has been talked about as a potential contender for the acquisition that might be able to pay a better price if it sold ABN Amro's Brazilian operations to another bank. Barclays' talks with the Dutch bank were prompted by calls for a break-up from an activist investor The Children's Investment Fund.
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