Page 416 - The Case Lab Book

The industrial logic behind the Graduated with MA in History from Oxford
consortium's bid was simply greater University. Attended London’s College of Law.
than that of Barclays.
Ambition: of heading a top-five global bank
Nevertheless, by keeping its offer on He was seen as an ideal candidate to orchestrate a
the table Barclays prevented the turnaround at ABN Amro after overseeing a rapid
consortium from altering the terms of
their offer citing material adverse international expansion of Barclays Bank.
events. While this was good for Since taking the role of Group CEO, he has driven
ABN's shareholders, it may not have a roughly 56% rise in pretax profit, from 4.58
been the same for the consortium billion pounds ($8.9 billion) in 2004 to 7.14 billion
given external environmental events pounds in 2006, with the bank's share price rising a
and ABN's perceived exposure to
the sub-prime debt market. similar 54% before the recent market-wide
correction.
Barclays moreover, didn't get
involved in a bidding war.

"Nobody let their egos get the better of them; nobody let their ambition get the better of them." John
Varley

In 2000 the Royal Bank beat its Edinburgh-based rival the Bank of Scotland in a 23.6
billion-pound hostile takeover of National Westminster Bank Plc. Goodwin completed
the integration of Nat West four months ahead of schedule and cut more than 18,000
jobs. The Bank of Scotland was subsequently pressured into a shotgun marriage with
Halifax bank and to most eyes was taken over by its Yorkshire rival.

RBS’ long-standing alliance with 73-year-old Santander chairman Emilio Botin, which
played a key role in Royal's victory over Bank of Scotland in the battle for Nat West,
proved crucial again in the ABN deal.