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A consortium of European finance groups bidding against Barclays to acquire ABN Amro has snapped up shares in the Dutch bank.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Belgian-Dutch bank Fortis and Spain's Santander revealed in a joint statement today that they had built up a 3.25 per cent stake in ABN through the purchase of stock yesterday and last Friday.

Purchased at an average cost of €33.81 (£22.88) each, the 40.76 million ABN shares were bought at a price below that which has been offered for the bank's entire stock by the consortium.

In addition to being lower than the €71 billion (£48 billion) bid for ABN put forward by RBS, Fortis and Santander, the sale also valued the bank's total stock below the €65 billion (£43.6 billion) rival offer made for the Dutch group by Barclays.

The banks involved in the consortium indicated that they might buy up further ABN shares, with analysts claiming that the takeover bidders had taken advantage of the weak markets to build up a stake in ABN and underline confidence in their own bid.

News of the stock sale comes after the acquisition battle for ABN heated up yesterday, when the bank confirmed that the Dutch ministry of finance had announced that it had no objection to Barclays' bid.

Analysts said that the decision had given the British bank a slight short-term advantage over its consortium rivals in the fight to take control of ABN, with the RBS bidders hoping to win consent for their offer next month.

Welcoming the announcement Barclays chief executive John Varley described the regulatory clearance as an "important milestone" in the bank's proposed merger with ABN.

"The progress we have made in respect of regulatory and competition filings demonstrates the high degree of deliverability and certainty which the Barclays offer provides ABN Amro shareholders," he insisted.