Consortium bids 71.1 bln euros for ABN: Fortis

Amsterdam, May 29: A consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland unveiled a bid for ABN AMRO valued at 38.40 euros per share on Tuesday.

Consortium member Fortis said the banks planned to offer 30.40 euros in cash plus 0.844 new shares in RBS for each ABN AMRO share in an offer worth a total 71.1 billion euros (.7 billion).

Fortis said the banks expected aggregate estimated cost savings of 4.23 billion euros and estimated profit enhancements from revenue benefits of 1.22 billion euros by the end of 2010.

The consortium has so far been rebuffed by ABN management, which has agreed to an all-share takeover by Britain's Barclays currently valued at 63 billion euros.

The proposed Offer is not subject to any financing condition, with capital raisings fully underwritten, but is conditional on the result of ABN AMRO shareholder vote on the sale of ABN's LaSalle unit, Fortis said.

Reuters>