The competition between Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to purchase Dutch bank ABN Amro has intensified after an RBS consortium announced a timetable for its takeover bid.
The RBS consortium filing the bid includes two other banks, Belgium's Fortis and Spain's Santander.
Its new £48 billion proposal tabled by RBS surpasses the £45 billion proposal made by rivals Barclays in April.
A legal battle emerged over the takeover as the acquisition of ABN Amro will include the purchase of American Bank, La Salle. A Dutch court recently decided that shareholders needed to be consulted before the deal could be allowed to take place.
Barclay's merger offer for ABN Amro calls for 12,800 job cuts to cut costs in the new company. And last Wednesday Barclays said it had made "excellent progress" on its offer for ABN Amro.
Now, however, the RBS consortium has revealed its plans to file takeover papers. A statement issued this morning said all draft documentation would be filed "by early next week" while the public offer would be made "by mid-July 2007".
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