A consortium of European banks seeking to win a bid battle for ABN Amro against Britain's Barclays said today it had built up a 3.25 per cent stake in the Dutch bank.
The consortium - the Royal Bank of Scotland, Spain's Santander and Belgian-Dutch group Fortis - said it had bought 40.76 million ABN Amro shares on Friday and yesterday at an average price of €33.81.
That is below the value of both its own €71 billion bid for ABN Amro and a rival offer, worth about €64 billion or €34 a share, from Barclays.
ABN Amro shares closed yesterday at €34.48 after a steep fall last week amid fears that recent market turmoil might lead the consortium to withdraw its largely cash bid.
The Barclays offer includes a larger proportion of equity.
Either bid for ABN Amro would be the world's biggest ever bank takeover.