ABN shareholders will get to vote soon on proposals

The bank says plans by The Children's Investment Fund (TCI), which include selling all or parts of ABN Amro, would not best serve shareholders.

Shareholders will vote on TCI's plans on 26 April at their next meeting.

UK bank Barclays, which is in exclusive talks over a merger with ABN, said on Tuesday that it was in a "strong position" regarding a tie-up.

Merger plans

ABN - the Netherlands' biggest bank - said: "We do not believe the interests of our shareholders would be best served by the mere short-term cash generation actions embodied in the proposals that TCI has put forward for consideration."

A month ago TCI sent a letter to ABN shareholder's outlining five issues that they would have to vote on.

That prompted talks between Barclays and ABN Amro over a possible merger.

Last week, Barclays and ABN said that, if they were to merge, the combined company would be listed in London but have its headquarters in Amsterdam.

If the merger takes place it would form a bank worth some �80bn ($155bn), with 47 million customers and 220,000 staff worldwide.