AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — ABN Amro NV agreed Monday to a 67 billion euros ($91.16 billion) takeover by Barclays PLC and to sell its U.S. assets, holding off a bid by three banks that would have carved up the Netherlands' largest bank.

The proposed chief executive of the new group, Barclays CEO John Varley, called the deal "the largest merger ever in global financial industry," and said it holds out the promise of growth at a rate twice as fast as global gross domestic product.

A combination of the two companies would create one of the world's largest banks by market capitalization.

Barclays offered 36.25 euros ($49.25) for each ABN share, slightly below Friday's closing price. Varley said the deal represented a 33 percent premium from ABN's price when talks began last month.

Though ABN Amro said the Barclays offer is the best one on the table, it refused to rule out alternative bids and said it would welcome a proposal from a consortium of Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, Spain's Banco Santander Central Hispano SA and Belgian-Dutch bank Fortis NV.

BANK OF AMERICA BUYS LaSALLE FOR $21B

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A year after making a successful $34.2 billion move into credit cards, Bank of America Corp. found yet another multibillion opportunity to grab more customers.

The Charlotte-based bank said Monday it will purchase LaSalle Bank Corp. from ABN Amro North America Holding Co. for $21 billion in cash.

The deal, initially announced by ABN Amro Monday when the Dutch bank agreed to sell itself to Barclays for nearly $91.2 billion, fills a big hole in the bank's nationwide branch network by making it Chicago's largest bank.

It also raises questions about Bank of America, who is up against a federal cap that bars it from making acquisitions that would give it more than 10 percent of all U.S. deposits. The bank, which is the nation's second-largest after Citigroup, recently controlled just over 9 percent.

The net cost to Bank of America will be $16 billion after a return of $5 billion in excess capital.

MedIMMUNE TO CHANGE HANDS FOR $15.6B

LONDON — AstraZeneca will buy U.S. drug maker MedImmune for $15.6 billion and with it, a share of the increasingly lucrative global vaccines market.

AstraZeneca PLC, which has been looking to strengthen its pipeline of future drugs as it faces patent challenges and escalating generic competition, said Monday it will pay $58 a share for MedImmune Inc., a 21 percent premium to the stock's close on Friday.

The deal, which AstraZeneca hopes to close in June, will increase the company's proportion of biotechnology drugs in its pipeline from 7 percent to 27 percent, and enlarge its total pipeline by 45 projects to 163 projects.

That includes two late-stage products being developed by Gaithersburg, Md.-based MedImmune, which has more than 2,500 employees in facilities across the United States, Britain and the Netherlands.

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS SAW 4% DROP IN EARNINGS

DALLAS — Texas Instruments Inc. reported a 4 percent drop in first-quarter earnings Monday as the world's leading maker of chips for cell phones dealt with a glut of inventory and shifting demand in the wireless market toward lower-end phones with less-expensive chips.

But its earnings still exceeded Wall Street expectations and the company said it expected growth to resume in the current quarter. Its shares rose in after-hours activity.

Texas Instruments said it earned $516 million, or 35 cents per share, in the most recent quarter compared to $585 million, or 36 cents per share a year earlier. Revenue fell to $3.19 billion from $3.33 billion a year ago.

Analysts were expecting 31 cents per share profit on sales of $3.15 billion for the January-March quarter, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.

CRUDE OIL PRICES TOP $65 A BARREL

NEW YORK — Crude oil prices soared above $65 a barrel Monday on fears that escalating violence in Nigeria could result in supply disruptions, while gasoline prices climbed toward a seasonal peak.

Early estimates for draws on the country's crude oil and gasoline stocks pushed prices higher, analysts said.

Last week, U.S. gasoline inventories stood at the lowest level since October 2005 and were about 3 percent below the level at this time last year, said Citigroup Global Markets energy analyst Tim Evans. The price of gasoline on the futures market and at the pump historically peaks ahead of the summer driving season — when concerns about supplies reach a crescendo.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery climbed $1.78 to settle at $65.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose just shy of $66 earlier in the session, trading as high as $65.96.

HASBRO SHARES RISE ON 1ST-QUARTER PROFIT

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Hasbro Inc., the nation's second-largest toy maker, swung to a first-quarter profit Monday on growth in its Marvel product line and core brands and said it was anticipating strong sales in movie-related products this spring and summer. Its shares rose nearly 8 percent.

Hasbro said it had growth in core brands such as Littlest Pet Shop, Nerf, Play-Doh, My Little Pony and Playskool. Its games business rose 8 percent this quarter, with top performer Monopoly up 22 percent.

The Pawtucket-based company reported a profit of $32.9 million, or 19 cents per share, for the three months that ended April 1 versus a loss of $4.9 million, or 3 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected the company to break even on a per-share basis.

Revenue rose 34 percent to $625.3 million from $468.2 million, beating Wall Street's estimate of $507.9 million.

MICROSOFT RESPONDS TO EU CHARGES

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Microsoft Corp. responded Monday to European Union allegations that it is overcharging rivals for information that would make their products work better with Windows. The software maker also repeated its request for more guidance on what regulators consider to be an acceptable price.

To level the software industry's playing field, EU officials want Microsoft's rivals to have access at a "reasonable cost" to material that would help their programs interoperate with Windows-based servers. Regulators have called the current prices excessive and the Microsoft's information insufficient.

The EU had given Microsoft until Monday night to come through with a response on the fees it seeks from competitors to share computer information, and threatened daily fines that could go as high as $4 million a day.

FOOT LOCKER MAY RAISE BID FOR RIVAL

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Genesco Inc. rejected Foot Locker Inc.'s $1.2 billion takeover offer on Monday, but Foot Locker isn't ruling out the possibility of raising its bid for its footwear and accessories rival.

Foot Locker had proposed paying $46 a share for Genesco in a deal that would have united its Foot Locker, Footaction, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports and Footquarters chains with Genesco's Journeys, Lids, Hat World and Underground Station brands.