ABN Amro to Buy Another Michigan Bank

ABN Amro Holding agreed to buy National Australia Bank Ltd.’s Michigan National Corp. for $2.75 billion in cash, marking the Dutch bank’s second acquisition in the Midwest state and providing Australia’s largest lender funds to expand in Britain. ABN Amro, which said this year that it was considering buying banks in the Midwest, will combine its Standard Federal Bank in Troy, Mich., with Michigan National’s 184 branches and $11.6 billion of assets. The purchase of Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Michigan National adds to ABN’s other U.S. holdings, including LaSalle Bank in Chicago and European American Bank in New York. It’s the second acquisition of a bank in the central U.S. this week, with Fifth Third Bancorp buying Old Kent Financial Corp., another Michigan bank, for about $4.8 billion on Monday. ABN Amro said it plans to close up to 40 of Michigan National’s branches. Melbourne-based National, Asia’s biggest bank outside Japan by market value, bought Michigan National in 1995 for $1.56 billion--its first foray into the U.S. banking market.