Amsterdam: When a group of three banks bought ABN Amro for €71.9 billion (Dh282.05 billion, $77 billion) in 2007, it was the biggest financial-services takeover ever. A year later, the Dutch government stepped in to rescue the troubled lender, spending almost 22 billion euros on the asset. The initial public offering on Friday raised €3.3 billion for the government, with shares priced at €17.75 each.

Here are some of the highlights of the bank’s tumultuous history — from attempts to crack into the big league of global banking to being bailed out by the Dutch state.

1824: Dutch King Willem I establishes the Nederlandsche Handel- Maatschappij, a trading company to revive trade and financing of the Dutch East Indies. It is one of the primary ancestors of Algemene Bank Nederland.

1991: ABN Amro is formed by the merger of the two biggest Dutch banks, AMRO Bank and Algemene Bank Nederland NV, as they scale up their international businesses.

1990s: ABN Amro snaps up assets including Hoare Govett and Alfred Berg. Adding to US unit LaSalle, acquired in 1979, it buys Talman Home Federal Savings & Loan.

1997: ABN Amro lists stock on New York Stock Exchange.

2000: Rijkman Groenink becomes CEO and pledges to make ABN Amro one of the top five banks by shareholder returns among a group of 20 peers, including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and ING.

2004: ABN Amro abandons its final protective measure as the bank scraps its preferential share structure. The bank seeks to improve the role of shareholders in the bank’s governance. It also makes the lender more vulnerable for a takeover.

2006: ABN Amro buys Italy’s Banca Antonveneta for €7.5 billion (Dh29.4 billion) to build up its consumer and business clients in four markets: Italy, the Netherlands, the US Midwest and Brazil.

February 2007: TCI Fund Management urges ABN Amro management to consider a break-up. Dutch Central Bank President Nout Wellink calls the demand a “bridge too far,” meaning that he didn’t think such a move was necessary.

April 2007: Barclays makes a formal offer for ABN Amro. Days later, a consortium consisting of Santander, Royal Bank of Scotland and Fortis makes a higher cash-and-shares offer, sparking a bidding war.

2007: The consortium acquires ABN Amro. Fortis buys ABN Amro’s Dutch consumer-banking arm, asset-management and private-banking units. RBS gets Asian and investment-banking operations. Santander snags Brazil and Italy.

October 2008: As the financial crisis spreads across the world, the Netherlands is forced to prop up its banks and insurers on concern deteriorating credit markets would leave them short of capital. The government purchases Fortis’s Dutch banking and insurance units, including its portion of ABN Amro, for €16.8 billion. Additional assistance pushes the rescue to about €22 billion, while separate bailouts for ING, SNS Reaal and Aegon and other assets drive the state’s costs even higher.

July 2010: ABN Amro Bank NV and Fortis Bank Nederland NV legally merge to operate as one bank under the name of ABN Amro Bank.

December 2014: Dijsselbloem says he will decide in the first quarter whether ABN Amro is ready to be sold.

March 2015: Dijsselbloem delays the IPO decision after a salary increase for ABN Amro board members draws fire from politicians and the public alike. An internal inquiry in Dubai also shows ABN Amro staff fail to comply with company guidelines. The bank was later fined more than $1.3 million by regulators in the case.

May 2015: The Dutch government says it’s proceeding with plans to sell shares in ABN Amro as soon as this year.

October 2015: The bank and the Dutch state announce plans to proceed with the IPO, with the offer coming as soon as this quarter.

November 20, 2015: ABN Amro Group NV starts trading in Amsterdam under the ticker ABN NA. The shares open at €18.18 apiece.