The consortium led by the Royal Bank of Scotland has made a €38.40 per share offer for ABN Amro, valuing the Dutch bank at €71.1 billion, a 13.7 per cent premium to the value of the proposed offer made by Barclays.

The consortium led by the Royal Bank of Scotland has made a €38.40 per share offer for ABN Amro, valuing the Dutch bank at €71.1 billion, a 13.7 per cent premium to the value of the proposed offer made by Barclays. The consortium, which includes Banco Santander and Fortis, said its offer is 79 per cent in cash, with the rest in new RBS shares. The offer is conditional on the result of ABN Amro's shareholder vote on the sale of its US unit LaSalle to Bank of America, but is not subject to any financing condition, as the capital is fully underwritten. The consortium estimates cost savings of €4.23 billion and profit enhancement of €1.22 billion by the end of 2010. According to the consortium, the offer does not include plans for significant offshoring of jobs and fewer employees are expected to lose their jobs than with Barclays' proposals.