Atlanta - new in the
atlanta
NETWORK
10
WHAT'S NewS Issue 7 November 1995
Unlike most US offices, the most recent addition to the
North American operation did not begin life with an
exclusive food and agribusiness focus. Atlanta started off
on October 6 this year with a combined portfolio of F&A
customers and general corporates. And according to brand-
new manager, Adriaan Weststrate, the equally brand-new
south-eastern operation expects a lot of growth on the
corporate side in the coming years.
made the top 10 business cities
in the world. So you see we're
really enthuosiastic about
what's happening here.'
(left to right) StandingDel Mastrangelo, Margo Ludoph, Garry
Weiss, Steve Rick, Adriaan Weststrate, Wayne Riess, Marco Krapels,
Micbelle Bocbory and Walter Bland. Seated: Phylana Johnson,
Jocelyne Lallemand, Terrell Boyle, Joyce Niggley, Rick Beard and
Betty Mills.
'At present, the portfolio we
have here is fairly equally divid-
ed over F&A and corporate
business,' Weststrate confirms.
'But there are some great op-
portunities for us in the region
to increase both. 1'm thinking
here of the fact that the south-
east is one of the fastest grow-
ing regions in the US. It out-
performs all national growth
figures and that is down to a
number of reasons - cost of
living, quality of life, excellent
transportation connections
with the rest of the world. For
tune magazine just published a
survey which named Atlanta
the most favoured city for cor
porate relocation and we also
TEXTILE TARGET
Besides the potential growth of
the south-east as a relocation
area, with all the M&A bus
iness that could bring with it,
the Atlanta team also has a
number of concentrated and
thriving industries in its terri-
tory. 'One is certainly the tex-
tile sector. We're already very
big in cotton in the US and
that business is handled by
New York because our com-
modity people are based there.
But here in the region we have
between 80 and 90 percent of
all US textile mills. We hope to
get the go-ahead to target this
sector. In recent years, the
American textile industry has
made a massive investment in
PAPER CHAIN
Atlanta may be the new kid on the North American block but the
team has already managed to close a number of deals in the few
short weeks since they opened.The transaction they have selected is
for a global paperboard and machinery-based packaging system
company. 'We have done a five-year USDI 2.5 million off-balance
sheet synthetic lease for Riverwood International,' says Weststrate.
'This is a great company headquartered here in Atlanta and 1994
sales of USDI .3 billion.The synthetic lease acts as a loan for tax
purposes and as an operating lease for off-balance sheet purposes.
It's a neat structure and we hope to do more like it.'
modernizing its mills into the
most cost-effective and ef
ficiënt in the world. Almost the
whole process has been auto-
mated, so the industry no
longer suffers from the cost
disadvantage it used to have.'
MARKETING THE
NETWORK
Atlanta needs no approval for
the pulp and paper industry -
another traditional mainstay of
the region's economy. 'But the
competition is tough in this
and other sectors we consider
food and agribusiness,' West
strate explains. 'Other banks
see these as general corporates,
but whatever you want to call
it, we're still going for it. And
we want to build considerable
portfolios in health-care and
Adriaan Weststrate
public Utilities here as well.
New York is providing support
for our emphasis on expanding
the product portfolio. But I
think we still place a bit too
much emphasis on selling
credit. As a global bank, we
have so many other things to
offer customers - not least our
international network. I see
that as a product which most
banks don't have. The network
opens up so many opportun-
ities. You can go in to see a
customer and say: Can we help
you in Brazil perhaps, or in
Singapore, or maybe in
Europe. That's a truly terrific
product in itself. And we'11 be
taking full advantage of it.'
ATLANTA - NEW KID IN TOWN
Onze jongste vestiging in de VS richt zich in tegenstelling tot de andere vestigingen vanaf het begin ook op de niet-agri doelgroepsectoren.
Atlanta wordt gekenmerkt dooreen snelle economische groei. Veel bedrijven verhuizen naar deze stad, die tot de top 10 van zakencentra in de
wereld behoort. Een speciale sector in deze regio is de textielindustrie. Ongeveer 85 procent van alle Amerikaanse textielfabrieken is hier gevestigd.
Deze industrie is volledig gemoderniseerd en staat bekend als de meest efficiënste ter wereld.