The ABN Amro banking group was formed as the result of a merger between Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN) and the Amsterdamsche-Rotterdamsche Bank (Amro) in 1991. With operations all over the world, ABN Amro was the subject of a bitter and expensive takeover battle in 2007. Bought by a consortium for €71bn, its empire was then broken up and shared out between the partners. But Fortis, which bought the Dutch units, got into financial trouble during the credit crisis and, together with ABN Amro itself, was nationalised in late 2008. In 2016, the government sold off a first tranche of shares at the start of the privatisation process.