Amsterdam - Swedish energy provider Vattenfall has made a bid of 8.5 billion euros (10.70 billion dollars) for Dutch energy provider Nuon, the Dutch company confirmed on Monday.

Amsterdam - The price of shares in Dutch bank and insurer ING Bank continued its free fall on Friday.

Half an hour after trading began at the Amsterdam stock exchange ING shares had lost 7.61 per cent and stood at 4.26 euros (5.41 dollars) per share.

The continued drop in share value was triggered following the publication of ING's final quarterly report on Wednesday.

The report said the bank had suffered a loss of 3.7 billion euros in 2008, compared with a profit of 2.4 billion euros in the same period in
2007.

ING's net loss for all of 2008 amounted to 729 million euros, compared with a net profit of 9.2 billion euros in 2007.

Amsterdam - Dutch ABN Amro/Fortis bank's new management board was presented by its chairman Gerrit Zalm to the media on Thursday.

Three of the seven new members originate from ABN Amro: Chris Vogelzang, Wietze Reehoorn and Johan van Hall. Jan van Rutte from Fortis was appointed financial director and deputy chairman.

The other two members are Joop Wijn, former top manager at Rabobank, and Caroline Prince from the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Amsterdam  - All football games between Ajax and Feyenoord will be played without supporters of the visiting club for the next five years, Dutch media reported on Thursday.

The Amsterdam and Rotterdam mayors, the management of both football clubs and the national football association KNVB made the decision Wednesday night after a number of violent incidents had taken place last week.

The KNVB said the ban will be evaluated after two years, and could theoretically be shortened then.

Matches between Amsterdam-based Ajax and Rotterdam-based Feyenoord, traditionally known as the "classic duel", are notorious for their many incidents involving violence and vandalism.

Amsterdam  - Dutch beer brewer Heineken is to embark on a major cost-saving operation that may include cutting jobs, the company said after releasing its annual results on Wednesday.

Turnover in 2008 amounted to 14.3 billion euros (18.06 billion dollars), 27 per cent more than in 2007. The company made an operational profit for special expenses of 1.93 billion euros, 11 per cent more than in the previous year.

Amsterdam - The Dutch economy will shrink by 3.5