Today, ABN Amro announced sponsorship of a two boat campaign to compete in the next Volvo Ocean Race (November 2005). ABN Amro will invest approximately EUR 20 million on this three year project.

The Volvo Ocean Race, the world’s premier ocean yacht race, sits firmly among the world’s top international televised sporting events. ABN Amro considers its participation in this top sporting event an ideal opportunity to further strengthen its international brand awareness. Besides this, qualities essential in this race, such as professionalism, flexibility, teamwork and innovation match the bank’s corporate culture.

‘The Volvo Ocean Race, which visits almost all of the continents in which ABN Amro has a presence, emerged as an ideal candidate, especially considering the range of commercial opportunities offered by participating,’ said Tom de Swaan, Member of the Managing Board of ABN Amro and responsible for this project.

Following last year’s rebranding campaign of its major subsidiaries – Banco Real, LaSalle Bank, Standard Federal Bank, Delbrück Bethmann Maffei, Alfred Berg, Hoare Govett, Banque de Neuflize en Banque OBC – ABN Amro wants to further reinforce their brand worldwide.

The two ABN Amro boats will join ‘Telefonica’, sponsored by the leading Spanish telecoms company, on the start line on 5 November, 2005. Speaking at the launch, Volvo Ocean Race CEO, Glenn Bourke said: ‘Today’s announcement of two fully funded race boats from ABN Amro, in addition to Pedro Campos with his Telefonica team from Galicia, confirms that the Volvo Ocean Race is in good shape. We are up in terms of entries, compared with this period in the previous race. With 20 months still to go before the start of the event, we believe the signs are positive from the corporate community.’

Contacts:
ABN Amro: Geert Pielage, Corporate Communications, Tel: +31 20 6288900, Mob: +31 6 53 99 42 13, Email: geert.pielage@nl.abnamro.com

Volvo Ocean Race: Alison Moor or Roberto Coladangelo on +44 207 202 2870 or +44 207 202 2843