ABN AMRO, the Dutch state and Deutsche Bank appear likely to request another extension from the European Commission on their protracted divestiture talks, after the latest deadline arrived with no progress to report.
When a Fortis-led consortium bought ABN AMRO in 2007, the EC ordered Fortis to sell a package of assets to address competition concerns. Fortis struck a deal to sell certain operations, at a €300 million loss, to Deutsche Bank for €709 million.
But the Dutch central bank blocked the transaction and, after the Dutch state nationalised Fortis's local operations in October 2008, ABN AMRO said it was not bound to honour the contract.
While it ultimately changed its position and accepted that it needed to comply with the asset sale order, it has been trying to find a better deal with Deutsche Bank than the original one.
A July deadline came and went with no progress, so the Dutch state asked for an extension into August - and when that too came with no movement, the state again sought more time.
A source familiar with Deutsche Bank's thinking told Reuters, though, that there was no news to report today and that Deutsche Bank's position has not changed - it wants the original package of assets at the original price.
Deutsche Bank declined to comment.
The package represented about 10 per cent of ABN's Dutch operations - commercial bank Hollandsche Bank Unie, 13 advisory branches, two corporate clients units, and a factoring portfolio.
Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos sidestepped questions on the deadline at an event yesterday, and a spokeswoman for the finance ministry declined to comment.
ABN AMRO - which will not even confirm that it is in talks with Deutsche Bank, just that it is in talks with one party - declined to comment on the deadline, saying only that it supports the finance ministry's efforts to pursue a deal.
Reuters