London, October 11, 2007—Shearman & Sterling has acted as US counsel to The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (RBS) in the world’s largest ever banking takeover of ABN AMRO Holding N.V.
The takeover, which valued ABN AMRO at approximately €71.1 billion ($100 billion), was led by RBS, together with Spain’s Banco Santander, S.A. and Belgian/Dutch bank Fortis N.V. and Fortis SA/NV.
On July 23, the consortium launched its offer for ABN AMRO of €38.40 ($54.06) per ABN AMRO ordinary share, comprising €35.60 ($50.12) in cash and 0.296 RBS ordinary shares for each ABN AMRO ordinary share. Eighty-six percent of ABN AMRO’s outstanding shares were tendered into the consortium’s offer prior to its expiration on October 5, 2007.
Shearman & Sterling also acted as US counsel to RBS in a number of concurrent and multi-currency securities offerings, raising more than €6.5 billion ($9.15 billion) across several markets to fund its part of the cash consideration for the ABN AMRO acquisition. The offerings represented the largest combined offering by a European bank.
The Shearman & Sterling New York-based M&A team advising RBS includes partners Creighton Condon and Scott Petepiece and associates Andrew Noreuil, Tony Feuerstein, Scott Tinkham, Henry Robbins and Gabrielle Larocque. Partner Brad Sabel of the New York office is leading the US bank regulatory team advising RBS.
The Shearman & Sterling London-based M&A team included partners George Karafotias and Bonnie Greaves and associates Babett Carrier, Sean Skiffington, Denise Ho and David Plattner.
The Capital Markets team advising on the acquisition and the offerings was led by partner Richard Price and included counsel Marc Plepelits (FR), associates Arjun Ahluwalia (PA), Brian Bishop (LO), Shelley Edwardson (LO), Apostolos Gkoutzinis (LO), Damien Grierson(NY), Trevor Ingram (LO), Joana Vilhena Ramos (LO), and trainee Philip Stopford (LO). Tax advice was provided by associate Leanne Ingledew (LO).
For additional information contact:
Ron Brandsdorfer | Communications | New York | +1-212-848-5081 |