ABN Amro management yesterday told a group of investors that the offer for the Dutch bank by a consortium of European rivals had high execution and implementation risks but was still better value than the Barclays offer.

Both offers carried inherent risks and required careful execution and planning, but the consortium's offer was riskier in terms of execution and implementation, said Huibert Boumeester, chief financial officer.

The Barclays offer required only integration, while the consortium's offer would entail dismemberment of the company ahead of a break-up, which carried greater risks, he told an ABN extraordinary general meeting in Rotterdam.

Investors who own 4.6 per cent of ABN's issued share capital were at the meeting, where management was to explain the pros and cons of each offer without declaring a preference.

The mostly cash offer from the consortium - which includes Royal Bank of Scotland, Spain's Santander and Fortis of Belgium - was yesterday worth about 14 per cent more than the Barclays offer, which includes a greater proportion of shares.

Management acknowledged that many of the Dutch shareholders would like to see Barclays win the battle.

A tie-up with Barclays would mean that ABN could stay relatively intact with the combined group's head office in the Netherlands.

But chief executive Rijkman Groenink said the Barclays offer was still too low for him reasonably to ask shareholders to take it over the consortium's offer.