British bank Barclays Plc has agreed to buy its Dutch rival ABN Amro for just over 67 billion euros ($91.1 billion), taking it closer to completing the world's biggest ever bank takeover.
Barclays would pay 3.225 new shares for each ABN Amro share, equivalent to 36.25 euros a share at Friday's closing price, the bank said on Monday.
The new company will have 220,000 employees and 47 million customers, making it the second largest bank in Europe and the fifth biggest worldwide.
The two banks said that under their merger plan 12,800 jobs would be shed and 10,800 would be sub-contracted out.
Outside Britain, Barclays has interests in continental Europe, Asia, the United States, the Middle East and Africa.
ABN Amro has also expanded into emerging markets in Asia and has interests in Canada, Italy, Mexico and the United States. It has 4,500 branches in 53 countries.
The deal is expected to be concluded in the last quarter of 2007 and the new bank would be headquartered in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands.
Tags: British bank Barclays