Goldman Sachs is positioning itself to advise Royal Bank of Scotland on a £40 billion-plus potential counter-bid for ABN Amro.

Any move by RBS, which has kept its options open over a bid for the Dutch bank, would pitch the Edinburgh-based bank against Barclays and other potential bidders. Barclays is currently in exclusive merger talks with ABN, with the exclusivity period set to end this month.

It is understood that Goldman has been released from its previous advisory role at ING, ABN’s Dutch peer, which was itself considering a possible move on ABN Amro. ING withdrew its interest weeks ago to concentrate on organic growth.

The release leaves Goldman “technically free” to seek a position on the year’s hottest M&A deal, with RBS rated as a prime candidate to rival Barclays, according to sources.

Goldman may face competition in its efforts to flush out a rival offer. Merrill Lynch, which has, like Goldman, worked for RBS in the past, is understood to be without an advisory mandate.

Nine banks, including Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Lazard and Morgan Stanley, are involved in the Barclays and ABN talks.

It is expected that no rival bidder will emerge before Barclays puts a firm price on ABN Amro, expected to come in at about €33 a share.

One source said: “These are long games. It wouldn’t make sense for any bidder to disclose their terms before Barclays has shown its hand.” Some analysts favour RBS over Barclays as a partner for ABN Amro, arguing that it is more capable of extracting cost synergies. ABN’s debt-focused wholesale bank is expected to be central to the success of any prospective tie-up with either RBS or Barclays.

News of Barclays’ interest emerged at the end of last month, when ABN said that it would enter exclusive preliminary talks over a deal.

Barclays agreed to concessions including the retention of headquarters for at least some of its operations in the Netherlands and the retention of some elements of the continental-style two-board structure.

Barclays could agree to be regulated by the Dutch central bank and to retain share listings in both London and Amsterdam, should a deal proceed.

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