The battle for Dutch financial giant ABN Amro got a bit more interesting when Royal Bank of Scotland announced it was going hostile with its offer, which seems to top a friendly offer from Barclays. Either way, the deal will be valued at nearly $100 billion. Astounding. Bank of America, of course, has a lot at stake. It had, or at least thought it had, a deal with ABN to buy LaSalle, the Chicago powerhouse, but a Dutch court has frozen that deal and Bank of America is in litigation to force the deal through. The problem is that RBS's main interest is also in LaSalle, and the Bank of America deal was seen a poison pill of sorts. RBS's hostile deal is contingent on the ABN-Bank of America deal for LaSalle not going through. Ultimately, it looks like ABN shareholders will have the final say. 

For more:
- here's a Business Week Online article