ABN Amro secures Reijtenbagh art collection

Three banks are now claiming the art collection of Dutch investor Louis Reijtenbagh, with ABN Amro saying it has stored a valuable Rembrandt and other paintings at an undisclosed location.

ABN Amro is dropping its legal claims on Dutch investor Louis Reijtenbagh's art collection, which include pieces by Rembrandt and Picasso, as collateral for a 52 million euro loan, but is still demanding repayment of the debt, the bank's lawyer said in court on Friday.

An ABN Amro spokesman said Reijtenbagh's art collection can still be claimed but that the bank will no longer pursue it as collateral. However, the bank also said that it now has one of the most valuable pieces in the collection, a selfportrait by Rembrandt from 1632, in its possession.

On Saturday, the Dutch daily de Volkskrant wrote that ABN Amro last week secretly took physical possession of the Rembrandt and other pieces from the collection, and has stored them in a vault at an undisclosed location. JPMorgan, the US bank that filed the first claim against Reijtenbagh, had been looking for the paintings for weeks.

ABN Amro's claim was triggered by a court case in New York lodged by JPMorgan Chase to secure Reijtenbagh's art collection after Reijtenbagh failed to pay back more than 23 million dollars as required. But Reijtenbagh, in written testimony filed in a New York court on Friday, contended that he and JPMorgan agreed to revise the loan terms in January and that he had complied with those agreements. JPMorgan's claim included a famous Gerrit Berckheyde painting, The bend in the Herengracht, which Reijtenbagh had already sold to the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands.

Three banks ABN Amro are now claiming millions from the former family doctor, who made a fortune from investments and has been described as one of the wealthiest people in the Netherlands. Reijtenbagh also faces another court case in New York brought by Credit Suisse Group, which has gotten a temporary court order freezing his assets after several investment funds run by the Swiss bank accused Reijtenbagh and his two sons of misusing more than 340 million dollars in loans.

At a hearing in Amsterdam district court on Friday, ABN Amro lawyer Tim de Greve said Reijtenbagh had reached an agreement with the bank to allow it to claim assets other than the art collection as collateral. The bank, which was nationalised by the Dutch government in October, did not provide details on the agreement.

ABN Amro earlier demanded to be allowed to secure Reijtenbagh's collection with the help of a bailiff, but it dropped that demand at Friday's court hearing.

JPMorgan also had a lawyer present at the Amsterdam court. The US bank asked to join the proceedings in order to secure the collateral and "to prevent a run on the paintings between the banks". The request was denied.

The court will rule on ABN Amro's claim on the other assets on April 29.