Fortis and RBS need to deliver on ABN promises

By Philip Blenkinsop and Steve Slater

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Nine months after taking control of Dutch bank ABN AMRO, two of the three victors are suffering a bad bout of winner's curse and need to deliver on big promises to investors.

The chiefs of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and Belgian-Dutch Fortis (FOR.BR) (FOR.AS), who had basked in the limelight of the world's biggest bank takeover, face increasing pressure from shareholders after being roundly criticised for paying too much at the wrong time for their ABN assets.

Together with Spain's Santander (SAN.MC), they spent 70 billion euros (55 billion pounds) to buy ABN just as a credit crunch hit revenues and valuations across the industry.

Now RBS's Fred Goodwin and Fortis's Jean-Paul Votron have to refocus on integrating rather than financing their purchases and prove the value of their new assets if they are to safeguard their positions and boost their underperforming shares.

Some say there are positive signs that synergy targets are firmly on track and that the companies' shares may have been excessively punished by irate investors.

A Belgian investors' group last week called for heads to roll at Fortis after a fresh 8 billion euro package of fundraising and axing of its dividend prompted another plunge in its shares.

Fortis had already issued 13 billion euros of new shares last year to pay for its ABN assets. RBS last month raised 12 billion pounds to repair a balance sheet stretched by the deal.

The rights issues have left investors impatient to see the fruits of the deal, but tough market conditions mean it will be a long slog to show the merits.