Fortis Chief Rules Out Bidding War for ABN: Paper

Fortis Chief Executive Jean-Paul Votron said the company would not get into a bid war for Dutch bank ABN Amro, which it wants to buy in a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland.

"I cannot speak for my allies but I think it is difficult to make a better offer than ours because it is notably made up 79% of cash," Votron told La Tribune financial daily, asked whether he would increase the offer if rival bidder Barclays raised its own offer.

"As far as Fortis is concerned, we think that this price represents a good price and reflects the value of ABN Amro's assets. Fortis will not get into a bidding race."

Barclays agreed to an all-share takeover of ABN worth about 65 billion euros ($86.77 billion).

The RBS consortium has offered 71 billion euros for ABN, a bid conditional on also buying ABN's U.S. arm LaSalle Bank, which ABN has agreed to sell to Bank of America. A Dutch court has frozen that deal.