ABN AMRO: Activist Shareholders Among the Hedges

On February 20, 2007, The Children’s Investment Fund sent a letter to the board of Dutch bank ABN AMRO stating strong requests with regard to the future of the company. TCI requested ABN AMRO to explore options to merge, sell, or spin-off some of its assets, or even the whole business. Never before had shareholder activism reached such a scale. As turmoil reigned and speculation began, the largest bidding war in banking history began over one of Europe’s largest and oldest banks.