A senior Dutch legal officer has said the sale of American bank LaSalle does not need to go to a vote of ABN Amro shareholders.
The news gives British bank Barclays a boost in its fight to fend off a counterbid for ABN Amro.
The verdict from advocate general Vino Timmerman comes ahead of a decision by the Dutch Supreme Court on whether to uphold an earlier ruling requiring shareholder approval for the £10.5 billion LaSalle sale to Bank of America.
While it is not a judgement, it is the main and only advisory opinion that will be taken into account by the court.
A decision not to put the LaSalle deal to shareholders for their vote would strike a serious blow for rival ABN suitors, led by Royal Bank of Scotland.
The RBS consortium's higher £48.2 billion takeover offer for ABN is dependent on the LaSalle sale's being reversed. ABN's move to offload LaSalle was widely seen as a 'poison pill' to defend itself against a counterbid, with the group keen to press ahead with the agreed £45 billion deal with Barclays without an open auction.
But the Dutch bank's shareholders were angered at the LaSalle decision and investor rights group VEB launched legal action that led to the Dutch Enterprise Chamber ruling last month that required ABN to seek shareholder approval.
Mr Timmerman recommended today that the Supreme Court reverse the decision and said that, under Dutch company law, the transaction did not need to be voted on first at a general meeting of shareholders. The Supreme Court is set to give its final decision in mid-July.
If Barclays is successful in its takeover attempt, the British group will become the world's fifth largest bank. RBS, which is partnered by Spain's Santander bank and Belgium-based Fortis, would break up ABN if it were to win the takeover tussle.
