LONDON, Oct 8: A European consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland on Monday clinched a record 71-billion-euro ($100bn) takeover of ABN Amro, paving the way for the break-up of the Dutch lender.

The RBS grouping, which also comprises Belgian-Dutch group Fortis and Spain’s Banco Santander, said in a statement that it had won backing from shareholders representing 86 per cent of ABN shares.

The announcement effectively ends a titanic six-month takeover battle, with the deal representing the biggest-ever acquisition in the history of the European banking sector.

British bank Barclays had last week pulled the plug on its rival bid worth around 63 billion euros after failing to secure enough ABN shareholder support.

“The minimum acceptance condition to the offer has been satisfied,” said the RBS consortium in a statement on Monday. In response, ABN Amro issued a brief statement noting the announcement.

In recent weeks, analysts have predicted a crushing win for the RBS-led takeover bid because it was higher and mainly in cash, compared with the Barclays offer that was mostly in shares.

Monday’s announcement will likely herald the break-up of ABN Amro, which dates back to 1824 and was once regarded as one of the jewels in the crown of the Dutch economy.

ABN Amro chairman Rijkman Groenink had last month criticised the Barclays offer as being too low, while hitting out at the consortium’s plans to break up ABN.

Initially, ABN Amro management had backed the Barclays takeover bid, but withdrew its support in June after the RBS consortium put more cash on the table.

The consortium has now triumphed -- in contrast with the failed Barclays bid that had aimed to merge ABN Amro’s operations to create a vast global giant.

The RBS team also won despite the sale of LaSalle to Bank of America in a move many analysts viewed as a “poison pill” against the consortium’s blockbuster bid.

The successful offer for the Dutch bank is pitched at 38.40 euros per ABN Amro share and is 93 per cent in cash.

Under the deal, Santander will take over ABN’s Italian and Brazilian operations, while Fortis will assume its retail banking division based in the Benelux countries.

RBS would take cash from the sale of ABN’s US unit LaSalle as well as the group’s institutional banking business.

ABN had last week finalised the sale of LaSalle to Bank of America for $21 billion.

Barclays, Britain’s third-biggest bank, had seen its share price hit by the global credit squeeze -- which had eroded the value of its original offer that was worth about 67 billion euros.—AFP