Bank of America Postpones ABN Amro Suit

Bank of America [BoA] has postponed a lawsuit it filed against ABN Amro for breach of its agreement to sell LaSalle Bank to BoA for $21 billion. Proceedings were to have begun Friday. A procedural hearing will now be held July 27, by which time the Dutch court is expected to have ruled on whether or not the LaSalle sale has to be put to a shareholder vote. The Dutch court froze the sale in May after shareholders objected, calling it a poison pill designed to deter a consortium of three banks that had outbid Barclays for ABN Amro itself. The consortium, which plans to break up ABN, wants LaSalle as part of the deal. ABN had sold LaSalle to BoA without a vote because it represents less than a third of the bank's assets and therefore does not require shareholder approval. Activist shareholders contended that the consequences of the sale were significant enough to override that stipulation. In related news, mutual fund manager Thomas Marsico has inked a deal to buy back his firm, Marsico Capital Management LLC, from BoA, which acquired the firm for $1.1 billion from 1998-2000. At the time, it managed $12 billion; it now oversees $94 billion. Financial terms were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in Q4.

Sources: MCM press release, Reuters I, II, Forbes, Wall Street Journal
Commentary: Bank of America Criticizes "Shocking" Dutch Court Ruling on LaSalle Sale -- FT • RBS Says It's Not in Talks With Bank of America to Resolve LaSalle Sale • ABN Shareholders Determined to Thwart LaSalle Sale to BoA; RBS-Led Consortium Reiterates Rival Bid
Stocks/ETFs to watch: Bank of America Corp. (BAC), ABN Amro Holding N.V. (ABN), Barclays PLC (BCS), Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc [ADR] (RBSPY), Fortis NV [ADR] (FORSY). Competitors: HSBC Holdings plc ADR (HBC), Deutsche Bank AG (DB), UBS AG (UBS). ETFs: iShares MSCI Netherlands Index (EWN), streetTRACKS KBW Bank (KBE), HOLDRS Regional Bank (RKH)

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