The intensity of the takeover battle is a time when far-reaching and critical questions will be asked of management. As Barclays did its utmost to gain control of ABN AMRO in the middle of last year, a director threw an interesting question at president Bob Diamond: “If you had to choose between acquiring ABN and the strategic partnership with China Development Bank (CDB), which would you pick?”
The relationship between Barclays and CDB was strengthened and upgraded when – as part of the assault of ABN – the Chinese policy bank, together with Singapore investment fund Temasek, took a 5.2% stake in Barclays worth €3.6bn. An additional €9.8bn investment was conditional upon Barclays’ completion of the ABN acquisition, which subsequently failed.
