S3i
band Issue 9/Mei 27, 1991
5
'The customer can use it
as one facility'
The customer
in question
llUlfU
Petroleum Haazen sees the financing of
KPI as a single large umbrella and thinks
that's fine: 'Rabobank looks at the Klerk's
Group as one total whole which is eligible for
financing. That's nice to know, for our credit
requirement fluctuates fairly widely. At one
time a lot of money is needed in the Nether-
lands and at another we need a lot in
Belgium. That's because the raw material
for our product is made by the petrochemical
industry. In other words, petroleum. And
nothing is as changeable as the oil price.'
Annual plan In principle, the finance for
investment is decided once a year. Van der
Zee: 'Then we are speaking about invest-
De Klerk's Group makes plastic products for the agricultural and horticultural
industry.
ask for well-founded figures from the com-
pany. We analyze these and make a credit
proposal. We next examine how that
amount is to be made available on the
basis of mutual discussion.'
Company bank Klerk's took its first
step outside the national frontiers around
seventeen years ago. An existing firm was
purchased in Belgium. At that time, Rabo
bank did not play any part in setting up this
foreign branch. Klerk's went to the Belgian
bank BBL because it knew more about the
Belgian situation than Rabobank. In 1988,
Rabobank in Antwerp became the company
bank for the Belgian subsidiary Hyplast.
Pouwels explains why: 'This step is
the result of the way Hyplast was financed.
That was done with bills of exchange pre-
financed by our local bank. So in fact at a
given moment we were financing the
Belgian company. In consultation with the
management, it was then decided to do the
total financing through Rabobank in
Antwerp.'
Status The American company Klerk's
Plastic Products Manufac-
turing was also set up in
1986 without involving
Rabobank. It was entirely
financed with KPI's working
capital. It was the American
government which drove
KPPM into Rabobank's arms.
Haazen: 'Fiscal legislation in
the United States makes it
cheaper to borrow money
from an American bank. The
point is that interest can
then be deducted as a
business expense. Rabo
bank in New Vork has the
status of an American bank.
We contacted them at that
time because other banks in
the USA were not prepared
to provide such high loans
as Rabobank. The security
was greater for Rabobank in
New York. After all, the bank
already knew Klerk's from its
businesses in the Nether-
lands and Belgium'.
'Bank around the corner'
In both the USA and Belgium
Klerk's has a local bank in
the country itself in addition
to Rabobank. For various
reasons. Haazen: 'In America
you use a 'bank around the
corner'. That's because the
banking system there is
entirely based on cheques.
An American does not pay by Kart Stoops (r) with one of Hyplasts' managers.
giro or some similar system.
It's all done by cheques. So you are simply
obliged to have a bank around the corner. In
Middlesex that is the Summerset Trust Co.
That's actually where the day-to-day money
transfers take place. The creditors are paid
there, the debts are collected and from
there salaries are paid as well.' Because of
that bank structure, Haazen does not think
it is strange that Rabobank in New York
keeps a relatively low profile for its counter
function. To this, Pouwels adds: 'Rabobank
in America sees no problem about the day-
to-day use of the Summerset Trust Co.
Other customers of ours in the USA do
exactly the same. There's nothing new
about it. We also fully understand what the
bank around the corner means. We don't do
it any differently ourselves.'
Belgium Hyplast in Belgium also needs
a bank around the corner. The Rabobank
branch in Antwerp cannot offer that (yet).
Pouwels: 'Hyplast is located in Hoogstraten
and that's about a 45-minute drive from
Antwerp. But the contacts are excellent.'
Haazen thinks it is a pity that automation at
Rabobank is still not what it should be: 'The
payment of our Belgian employees' sal
aries, for example, is handled through the
Bank Brussel Lambert.'
ments for replacement and expansion.
Think of a range of machinery that has to be
renewed or extended. Real estate invest-
ments are also in that plan. All of us then sit
down around the table to see how we can
best hedge the investments. Financing in
countries abroad is based on an allocation
guarantee. That means the facilities made
available by the bank's foreign offices are
guaranteed by Rabobank Nederland or the
local bank. The way the finance is ailocated
is not so relevant, in fact. It is, however,
important for the customer to be able to use
it as one facility.'
KPI of Noordwijkerhout is one of the three
subsidiaries of J.M. De Klerk beheer BV.
The other companies are located abroad:
Hyplast in Belgium (Hoogstraten near
Antwerp), and KPPM in the United States
(Middlesex, in the state of New Jersey).
De Klerk's Group makes plastic products
for the agricultural and horticultural
industry and packagings for agricultural
and horticultural products such as flower
covers (NL), agricultural plastics (B),
plastic plant pots and film for industrial
applications.
KPI has 140 employees, Hyplast has
100, and 20 people work in the American
branch.
