Shares in ABN Amro fell 11 per cent yesterday amid concern that the competing bids for the Dutch bank were set to collapse as the credit crunch took a renewed toll.

However, sources involved insisted that Fortis would raise its €24 billion (£16.2 billion) share of a €71.1 billion consortium offer for ABN. Hopes for the consortium were bolstered when Royal Bank of Scotland, its leader, won 94.5 per cent approval from voting shareholders for a rights issue.

Meanwhile Barclays dismissed as “scurrilous” speculation that it was considering pulling its rival €67.5 billion bid.

Shares in ABN closed down 3.5 per cent at €33.85, partly owing to fears over the auction and also because of panic in the stock markets over a further credit crunch, which sent all bank stocks plunging.

A Dutch newspaper reported yesterday that Fortis would struggle to sell a €2 billion bond that it needed to participate in the consortium. According to Het Financieele Dagblad, Fortis’s chief financial officer, Gilbert Mittler, said that it was not an “appropriate moment” for this securitisation because of jitters in the credit markets.

But sources close to the bank said that the bond was not necessary, because it had already raised €1.6 billion through the sale of assets and had a further €22 billion in bank financing.

At an extraordinary general meeting in Edinburgh yesterday, RBS, Fortis’s consortium partner, received approval from 60.7 per cent of its shareholder base to issue shares to cover its €27.2 billion share of the offer.

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