LONDON, Oct 10: A European consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland on Wednesday declared victory in the takeover battle for Dutch group ABN Amro, sealing the biggest takeover in banking history and prompting the resignation of the ABN chairman.

Chairman Rijkman Groenink stepped down after opposing the consortium’s mostly cash bid worth $100 billion (71 billion euros), which prevailed over a competing offer from Barclays.

The consortium, also comprising Belgian-Dutch group Fortis and Spain’s Banco Santander, will now break up ABN Amro -- a move criticised by Groenink.

The takeover is also expected to involve the loss of up to 19,000 jobs at ABN Amro.

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

Barclays’ mainly shares bid had been worth about 63 billion euros when it pulled out of the running last Friday.

The consortium on Wednesday confirmed that shareholders representing about 86 per cent of ABN stock had accepted its bid and announced plans to buy the remainder.

The ABN shareholders holding the remaining 14 per cent will now have a further chance to accept the consortium’s offer until the end of October, according to the statement.

The consortium requires 95pc support to force remaining minority shareholders to accept the offer.

RBS and its partners declared their offer as “wholly unconditional” in a statement on Wednesday, meaning all of its takeover conditions had been met.

British bank Barclays had abandoned its bid last week after securing less than one per cent of ABN Amro shares.

The ABN Amro takeover surpasses the previous record for an acquisition in the banking sector which was when US group Travelers bought CitiCorp for $72.56 billion in 1998.

In recent weeks, analysts had 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.

The consortium’s victory will herald the break-up of ABN Amro, which dates back to 1824 and was once regarded as one of the jewels of the Dutch economy.

Last month, Groenink had hit out at the consortium’s plans to break up the Dutch bank, while criticising the Barclays offer as being too low.

On Wednesday, he stepped down.

“Shareholders have now chosen the consortium’s offer. That is why it is appropriate for me to make way for a successor who is willing and able to execute the consortium’s plan,” Groenink said in a statement.

Groenink was named chairman of ABN Amro in 2000.

The RBS team has won despite the sale of ABN’s US unit 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.—AFP