Abbey seeks talks with BoS

The Abbey National want face-to-face talks

Abbey National has pledged to seek direct talks with the Bank of Scotland over a planned takeover.

The Abbey's overtures towards the bank were rebuffed last week, but a spokeswoman said it expected that face-to-face talks would take place within the next few days

The mortgage lender revealed on Friday that it had approached the Scottish-based bank with a view to a takeover.

BoS doubts the value of a take-over

It said a takeover of BoS would "create value" for shareholders of both banks, but BoS said it "seemed unlikely" that the move would benefit its shareholders.

On Sunday, the Abbey said senior executives were spending the weekend talking about the proposed offer between themselves.

It also emerged that Abbey National's chairman, Lord Tugendhat, arrived back in London on Saturday morning, touching down in Heathrow from a trip to the Far East.

A spokeswoman for the Abbey said: "This only blew up on Friday so it was too early to arrange meetings over the weekend.

"But we expect to have talks this week. We want to concentrate on getting round a table with Bank of Scotland and talking this through.

"The first step is to talk on the phone but we want to get round a table this week if possible."

Interested parties

BoS had originally approached the Abbey in the summer about a merger.

However, the talks were ended by the mortgage lender and the Scottish bank was understood to have been less than happy that it was now facing the prospect of a takeover bid.

For Abbey, the move has also turned the spotlight on itself as a takeover target.

Shares in the group shot up on Friday as investors thought a failed takeover could weaken the Abbey.

Companies such as Lloyds TSB, Barclays and HSBC have been tipped as potential interested parties.

Bank of Scotland has been considered vulnerable since losing the take-over battle for NatWest to arch-rival Royal Bank of Scotland.