It appears that Mr Groenink, CEO of ABN-Amro is up to his tricks again.
His decision to halt the sale of LaSalle Bank, alleging that the Dutch court´s decision was unclear, appears to have led to BofA´s multi-billion dollar suit.
His idea would be that with this suit in place, no other bidder will want to take on ABN-Amro with its potential liabilities and, without an alternative offer, they will proceed with the Barclays bid and with the sale of LaSalle Bank to BofA, who would then withdraw its suit.
Mr Groenink would then have achieved what he has been looking for, showing the door to all other bidders, close his deals and have a nice comfortable place at the top table, on the Supervisory Board.
All without given his shareholders the choice that is their right!
There is complete clarity on the court decision. The LaSalle sale process can go ahead, however, the shareholders have a right to decide on whether they approve it or not, along with the whole company or separately. What is it about this that Mr Groenink does not understand?
The other good one is that ABN-Amro is now saying that they must keep Mr Groenink on board, as this would provide more uncertainty at the bank. This is akin to the killer of his parents asking for mercy on the grounds that he is an orphan.
Mr Groenink has worked against shareholder interests from the beginning and will continue to do so until he is relieved. He should go!
Onésimo Alvarez-Moro
See article:
ABN Amro on Friday night called a halt to any new offers for its US subsidiary, LaSalle, after a Dutch court refused to clarify a ruling that freezes the sale of the business to Bank of America for $21bn.
The Dutch bank’s decision created further uncertainty about the status of talks over a €72bn ($98bn) takeover bid by a consortium of European banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland.
Earlier in the day, BofA filed a lawsuit in New York claiming ABN Amro had breached its contract by halting the sale of LaSalle.
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