A trio of banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland said today it would delay an expected statement on a possible offer for Dutch bank ABN AMRO until next Tuesday because of the public holiday on Monday.
RBS, Fortis and Santander are formally required to provide an update on their offer, stating whether it will go ahead and under what terms, by May 27th. But they said that date had been postponed, as May 28th is a public holiday in Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands.
ABN agreed in April to an all-share takeover by British bank Barclays Plc, worth over €64 billion at current prices.
But RBS and partners say they could trump that offer, outlining a €71 billion proposal last month. The banks have so far been rebuffed by ABN management, who favour a deal with Barclays, which promises to avoid a break-up and would see the enlarged group headquartered in Amsterdam.
Barclays said earlier this week it plans to publish its own agreed offer for the Dutch bank in six weeks and said it and ABN were making "excellent progress" with the key regulatory filings needed for their deal.
In Tuesday's statement, RBS and its partners could formalise and detail their offer, withdraw interest or ask for an extension until the legal dispute over ABN's US unit LaSalle becomes clearer