Enquiries with Barclays in London reveal an astonishing revelation that its management is very well informed. For instance, it knows exactly who Bank Windhoek is, and that an earlier attempt by Barclays to take over Bank Windhoek through the ABSA shareholding link also failed.

The Barclays spokesperson was also knowledgeable on the fact that Bank Windhoek's counteroffer to buy out ABSA's shareholding was successful.

In its latest acquisition plans, Barclays wanted to get full control of ABN AMRO. In an agreement between the two financial giants dated 23 April 2007, a target threshold for 80% of the shareholding was set. Barclays invited holders of ordinary shares and of American Depository shares to tender their shareholding.

In a statement Barclays said: "Barclays announces that as at 4 October 2007, the Closing Date of its offer for ABN AMRO Holding N.V., not all the conditions relating to the Offer was fulfilled. In particular, the condition that at least 80% of ABN AMRO’s issued ordinary share capital as at the Closing Date (excluding any ordinary shares held by ABN AMRO) was tendered has not been fulfilled."
Barclays withdrew the buy-out offer with immediate effect. The threshold not being reached sunk the deal.
"As at 4 October 2007, 4,410,136 ordinary shares in the share capital of ABN AMRO were tendered under the Offer, as well as 782,945 American Depositary Shares. In addition 5,260 formerly convertible preference shares and 8,466,875 DR preference shares were tendered." said Barclays in the same statement.
The agreement between Barclays and ABN AMRO has also been terminated leaving ABN AMRO to pick a €200 million tab as a break fee. Barclays specifically stated that this amount will "significantly exceed the costs that Barclays incurred in connection with the offer." This announcement is to reassure Barclays’ shareholders that the latter has not incurred any losses when the intended deal collapsed.
"The Barclays share buyback programme terminated [last Friday] and will restart without the restrictions specific to the Offer as announced on 2 August 2007. To date Barclays has in aggregate acquired approximately 140.9 million shares for cancellation at an average price of 622.5 pence. Under the new, restarted programme, up to £1.55 billion remains available to purchase a maximum of 196.0 million shares for cancellation during the period from 8 October to 31 December 2007. The objective of the restarted programme remains to immunise the dilutive effect of the issuance of shares to China Development Bank and Temasek on existing shareholders.
John Varley, Barclays Group CEO, said: “I thank Barclays shareholders and employees for their overwhelming support for this transaction over the past months. Barclays has strong momentum and I am confident that we will continue to deliver significant growth in the coming years.”
Marcus Agius, Barclays Group Chairman, said: "The Board is proud of the way Barclays senior management conducted the campaign for ABN AMRO. We remain committed to continuing our successful strategy of Earn, Invest and Grow."