Page 13 - RBS – ABN takeover

However, at the same time, Barclays’ shareholders had voiced their concerns

about taking on a massive bank that was less profitable than their own. Barclays

had a 12% return on investment whilst ABN had only 9%.

Barclays was also entitled to a

€200 million break-up fee,

which it said would

"significantly exceed" the costs
Acquisitions are "the servant of
strategy, not the master of it." it had incurred in making the
J. Varley
John Varley offer.
• Born 1956
• Group Chief Executive - Barclays 2004 - present
The industrial logic behind the
Graduated with MA in History from Oxford
University. Attended London’s College of Law. consortium's bid was simply

Ambition: of heading a top-five global bank greater than that of Barclays.
He was seen as an ideal candidate to orchestrate a
turnaround at ABN Amro after overseeing a rapid
international expansion of Barclays Bank. Nevertheless, by keeping its
Since taking the role of Group CEO, he has driven
a roughly 56% rise in pretax profit, from 4.58 offer on the table Barclays
billion pounds ($8.9 billion) in 2004 to 7.14 billion
pounds in 2006, with the bank's share price rising a prevented the consortium from
similar 54% before the recent market-wide
correction. altering the terms of their offer

citing material adverse events. While this was good for ABN's shareholders, it

may not have been the same for the consortium given external environmental

events and ABN's perceived exposure to the sub-prime debt market.

Barclays moreover, didn't get involved in a bidding war.