Authorities believe a body found yesterday is that of Boumeester, though formal identification hasn’t taken place, Thames Valley Police said in a statement. A vehicle matching the description of Boumeester’s was found near the scene. Police earlier said they discovered the body of a man who was believed to have died from gunshot wounds near Winkfield.
Boumeester, 49, had been missing since June 22, when he failed to attend a business appointment, the London Metropolitan Police said last week. Police described him as a “vulnerable” man who had been “feeling down” and said two guns owned by Boumeester were also unaccounted for.
“We are deeply grieved by what we must now assume is a tragic ending,” Boumeester’s family said in a statement released by the GPW Ltd. communications agency. A family spokeswoman declined to comment further.
Boumeester, who worked for ABN Amro for 21 years and lived in London’s Belgravia district, left the Dutch bank in March 2008 after it was bought by a group led by Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. He had backed a competing offer from Barclays Plc and would have been the only ABN Amro manager to become an executive director of the combined group if the Barclays bid had succeeded.
At the end of February, Boumeester resigned from the board of Artemis Asset Management Ltd., a former ABN Amro unit that is now owned by Paris-based BNP Paribas, said Nick Wells, a spokesman for the money manager.
RBS Collapse
Boumeester had been depressed after recently losing his job, the Daily Mail reported, without citing anyone.
RBS, Banco Santander SA and Fortis bought Amsterdam-based ABN Amro in 2007 for about 72 billion euros ($101 billion) in the world’s biggest banking takeover.
The acquisition ultimately led to the near collapse of RBS, which was forced to cede a 70 percent stake to the U.K. government in return for a bailout, while Fortis was forced to sell its banking units.
Boumeester, who had three children, studied law at Leiden University before joining ABN Amro in 1987 as management trainee in investment banking. He was appointed to the management board in 2006 and became chief financial officer in August 2007 following the resignation of Hugh Scott-Barrett. After the sale to the RBS-led group, Boumeester was named chief risk officer.
Boumeester Foundations
ABN Amro paid Boumeester an 114,000 euros base salary in 2008, plus a 3.8 million-euro termination fee, according the bank’s annual report. In 2007, Boumeester received a 667,000- euro salary, a 1 million-euro bonus and 4.82 million euros in share-based payments.
Boumeester’s mother is a member of the Fentener van Vlissingen family, which owns SHV Holding NV, the Netherlands’ largest family-owned company. Founded in 1896, SHV’s businesses include the Makro chain of wholesale outlets, private-equity firm NPM Capital and Mammoet, which provides heavy-lifting services for industry.
Boumeester founded three foundations, each named after an ancestor. All three foundations were registered as grant giving charities in the Netherlands in 2005, according to an umbrella Web site for the foundations.
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