Rabobank - past and present Cam in practice Small is productive ployed in agriculture or related in dustries (compared with 15 per cent in 1950). Although increas- ingly less people work directly on the land, this has been more than compensated by the devel- opment of a large food and drink sector. This accounts for no less than 29 percent of total Dutch in- dustrial turnover, and combined, these sectors generate an an- nual turnover of around NLG 36 billion, or about 6 percent of GNP. Over 75 percent of this produc tion is exported, primarily to markets in Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Scandina- via. However, the Dutch are world market leaders in flower and bulb export - a position they have held and Consolidated over the last three decades. In addition, a spin-off export activity is also gaining ground. The Dutch's high-tech agricul- tural know-how is fast becoming a profitable commodity. Tech- niques for glass and intensive cultivation systems, selective breeding and stock-raising are increasingly in demand abroad. Although lack of space prevents more than a summary overview of how the Dutch captured such a major place in international food and agribusiness, this may go some way to explaining the background to the bank's long- standing know-how and repu- tation in the sector. When the farmers' lending banks merged to create Rabobank, the basic philosophy of promoting and investing in the sector, both nationally and internationally, was further Consolidated. In the next issue, we will es- camine more closely the bank's role. In recent issues we have reported on CAM efforts to coordinate an international approach to clients. Internal meetings and discussions generate the theory, but how does it work in practice? Milan's Roberto de Cardona explains. Rabofin Italia is currently in the process of negotiating an ac- quisition loan for one of its clients. 'But in fact,' says De Cardona, 'the business came in through New York. They called us to say they'd approached an Italian company which turned outto be interested in acquiring two dairy businesses in Atlan- ta. The company was one of our clients - the Italian dairy giant Parmalat.' De Cardona describes this type of deal as a perfect lucractive industries. The main philosophy behind the success of post-war Dutch farming is fewer farmers producing more on less land. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, agricultural pro duction made a phenomenally fast recovery. During the De- pression, government had be- gun real investment in agricul tural policies for the first time in Dutch history. This process con- tinued after the Second World War and farmers were encouraged to invest - first in modern equip- ment and later in the ad- vanced technology develop- ed by the Netherlands' progressive agricultural re search institutes. Invest ment requires financing and the farmers' lending banks were only too eager to assist. Rapid economie growth had led to a major increase in savings, so the banks had capital avail- able for lending. Although overall, the number of people working in the food and agribusiness has de- clined in recent decades, this early, intense invest ment in highly advanced tech nology has meant each farm- worker and each hectare under cultivation are now many times more productive than even a de cade ago. On average, a Dutch farmer invests around NLG 40,000 per year in his busi ness. This means an average of around NLG5 billion is ploughed back into the industry annually. At present, no less than 64 per cent of Dutch land is under culti vation and around 5 percent of the working population is em- example of CAM. 'The network was activated immediately. Par- malat's chairman flew to New York for discussions with Rabo bank there, and then they came here. Milan provided the back- up and support through our local account manager, Mauro Bambacigno, and we then made the bridge loan. The next step is the acquisition loan it- self.' The Milan office works closely with almost all the other foreign offices and Utrecht. 'Another recent example is our cooperation with Brazil when one of their clients acquired an Italian company,' De Cardona adds. 'Once you get the basic networking right, the whole c thing falls into place.' o c De Cardona and New York's Hans Hannaart - networking f works. The fact that traditional farming giants such as the US and France rank top of the world list of agricultural expor- actually amazing when you con- sider the physical and geo- graphical difficulties facing Dutch farmers. As a great part of the country's landmass is below sea-level, over the cen- turies farmers and communities have had to fight an ongoing bat- Dutch flowers for export - business is blooming. ters is hardly surprising. But the number three slot may raise some eyebrows. In our series on the history of Rabobank, we look at how the Netherlands developed into an international class exporter - with more than a little help from the far mers' lending banks. Although covering only 41,000 square kilometres, the Nether lands has long ranked as one of the world's major exporters of agricultural and horticultural products. The achievement is tle to control and manage the watery westland. Farmers in the eastern part of the country are not much better off as the land is sandy, which also presents problems. However, since the Second World War, a new ap proach to intensive farming backed by government policy and financed to a large extent by the farmers' lending banks, now Rabobank, has trans- formed agriculture in the Nether lands into one of the national economy's most advanced and

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blad 'Raboband International' (EN) | 1993 | | pagina 8