Barclays yesterday revised its offer for ABN Amro to some €67.8 billion after announcing it had persuaded China Development Bank (CDB) and Temasek to take stakes in Barclays, investing up to €13.4 billion.

The strategic investments enabled Barclays to inject about 37 per cent of cash into its ABN offer. The British bank's bid is competing against a rival €71.1 billion offer from a Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium, which is 93 per cent in cash.

Shareholders yesterday questioned whether this would be enough to win the bid battle for ABN.

However, they said the deal would give Barclays a credible exit strategy if it were to walk away from ABN. It would be able to pursue growth in Asia through its link-up with CDB.

CDB will take a €2.2 billion stake in Barclays at a share price of £7.20, plus take a further €7.6 billion stake at £7.40 a share if the ABN deal is completed.

The investment is the biggest investment by a Chinese company outside the country.

CDB is not an ordinary bank. It does not take deposits but raises money by issuing long-term bonds and lends only to government-approved (mostly infrastructure) projects in a similar way to the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank.

Temasek, the Singaporean government investment vehicle, will invest €1.4 billion at £7.20 a share in Barclays' stock and invest a further €2.2 billion in Barclays at £7.40 a share if the deal is completed.

The deal represents Temasek's largest single overseas investment, and reflects its strategy of taking stakes in Asian banks or international banks that have a strong presence in the region. Last year it bought an 11.5 per cent stake in Standard Chartered.

The deal with CDB will also enable Barclays to sell its asset-management products into the fast-growing Chinese market.

John Varley, Barclays' chief executive, said the bank had been aware of shareholder concerns that the British lender would be tempted to overpay for ABN or issue huge amounts of stock.