Just to negotiate a better price of outputHowever this radical point of view is no unanimityThe current global finance is preposterous24 million jobs per year and it is 10 million9 since the summer 2005 but decreased by 3225 m2 of shops concentrated in the new wing halfThis is not at all up on a model of string satelliteIn one night the LFNY and harvest more than 1In Britain the unions have not a penny moreBut BHP Billiton was not excellent only on its flagship productsBy obtaining an entry into exclusive negotiations with ABN AMRO, John Varley, the CEO of Barclays, has struck a great blow. The Dutch Bank, which has received in recent weeks of the marks of French, Spanish or even British, or American competitors interest, has chosen to focus on the third British Bank. Their marriage would give birth to the second European Bank behind HSBC, with some 170 billion in market capitalization. With positions key in Britain and in Spain, from Barclays, and the Netherlands and Italy, intake of ABN AMRO, the new package would become the more pan-European retail banks. The merger, finally, operate in cultural field known, in the tradition of large anglo-néerlandaises alliances, Shell to Unilever, passing by Corus. Yesterday, the stock market welcomed this project.
Nothing is yet reached, however. "There is no assurance that discussions will lead to a transaction", pointed out a press release published yesterday late in the day. The two groups give a month, according to the British press, to sign an agreement. ABN AMRO must submit to its shareholders a clear perspective at the general meeting of April 26. So far, two groups have already cleared a portion of the deemed sensitive topics, particularly governance and sovereignty.
In the same press release, they explained that future would be rated in London with a high rating in Amsterdam. Its Chairman would be appointed by ABN AMRO and its Director General by Barclays, and its head office is in Amsterdam.
A concern for balance, which should satisfy the Dutch authorities. It is true that the marriage will not be pronounced without the go-ahead of the Minister of finance in this country. The Dutch Act specifies that the Minister should decide to look "of the harmful effects on the Dutch financial sector". Concerned by the turn of events since the burst of the Fund TCI in the capital of ABN AMRO, the Dutch Central Bank said, on the other hand, "follow the new developments with a great deal of attention while remaining in close contact with ABN AMRO. Main organisations of employees of the Dutch Bank, they display a certain satisfaction. "If ABN AMRO must be resumed, as much as it is by a renowned European Bank," said a spokesman, hoping that the impact on employment will be limited, in view of the complementarity of the two banks.
This almost unanimously concerned Fund activist TCI, the source of unrest around the Dutch Bank. "We hope that the exclusivity granted to Barclays will not prevent the Board of Directors to consider offers from credible institutions to generate the best return for shareholders," the "hedge fund" warned yesterday, London.
Additional profiles
The highly complementary profile of Barclays will have seduced the ABN AMRO management that avoids the dismantling. In the opposite direction, the British had little cost savings to assert to boost its offer price, without weakening its own stock exchange course. A balance will be difficult to find. With 3.5 billion euro of potential synergies, Merrill Lynch analysts consider that HSBC would be best placed to try his luck on ABN AMRO: except that the setbacks of the British giant in the United States should occupy. According to these calculations, the two other major contenders are RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) and BNP Paribas, each with 3.4 billion euros of synergy. Barclays comes in fourth, with 3 billion euros of synergy in the key, in the Investment Bank and asset management.
Analysts believe that Barclays should offer essentially titles rewarding action ABN AMRO between 32 euros and 35 euros. In a Europe Bank where no hostile cross-border operation has failed, the crucial question is whether if the Board of Directors of ABN AMRO will be such an agreement as an end in or it will itself in a position to recommend a possible superior, as supply requested TCI. The recent example of the steel producer Corus, and one-upmanship of Brazilian CSN on the Indian Tata, shows, in any case, that preliminary discussions do not always give an accurate indication of the real appetite of each.
