Global Capital Markets

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the UK-listed financial services group, was tipped as a possible bidder for ABN Amro, a Daily Mail market report said. The report did not cite sources for the speculation. ABN Amro, the Netherlands-listed financial services company, has a market capitalisation of EUR 50.30bn. Separately, a report in the Financial Times quoted RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin as saying that the bank might consider acquiring small US-based retail banks. The quote appeared in a longer article about RBS' plans for expansion in the US. A separate article in the Financial Times said that ABN Amro has enlisted the services of investment banks including Morgan Stanley to advise on a defence against calls for a break-up of the group by the Children's Investment Fund (TCI). The report quoted people familiar with the matter, who said ABN Amro has hired Morgan Stanley, Rothschild, Lehman Brothers and UBS as advisers. ABN and the four investment banks refused to comment, the report said. TCI, the hedge fund, last week contacted ABN with a written demand for five resolutions to be presented to ABN Amro shareholders at a meeting scheduled for the end of April, the report noted. TCI holds a 1% stake in ABN Amro.
Source
Daily Mail, Financial Times