A little more clarity

Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Fortis have put their cards on the table. The consortium has made a formal E71bn cash-and-share offer for ABN Amro, topping the agreed bid from Barclays by 12%, at Tuesday morning’s share prices. It’s progress, but some significant concerns have not been fully addressed. There are three advances. First, there is more cash. The new offer has E3 per share more cash than the May 4 conditional offer. But one euro per share will be held back, pending any settlem...