Building syndications
corporate finance
WHAT'S NewS Issue 2 February 1996
13
product range and what we
ave to do is make sure those
roducts are flexible enough to
be offered to a variety of
clients. That's one of the
reasons we have defined our
products very clearly - we
don't want to be distracted by
attempting to build up too
many things simultaneously. I
think the growth in our range
of treasury and structured
finance products are great
examples. But let Neil
Robinson of structured finance
teil you about that.'
STRUCTURED FINANCE -
BUILDING REPUTATION
Neil Robinson is into focus,
he's also very much into
^kelationship banking. 'Put it
^^his way,' he says, 'last year we
visited 80 companies. That
means around 1.5 cliënt visits
per week. Even though we - by
we I mean our whole corporate
banking and structured finance
team - would like to work with
all 80 of those prospective
clients, there are simply not
enough of us to deliver the level
of service they demand. While
we will continue to call on all
of these names, we are
focussing our efforts on a more
manageable list of about 20.
But we're really targeting those
clients, and not just for
structured finance.'
FACE TIME
Robinson believes the increase
in 1995-results is due to the
Branch's focussed approach and
also 'to the fact we're a
relationship-driven bank,'
Robinson says. 'In the past, our
corporate bankers didn't have
many leading-edge products to
sell. Now, that has all changed.
Our corporate finance and
treasury people here in London
are coming up with all kinds of
new products. So when the
corporate bankers go to see
clients, they have a broad range
on offer, including structured
finance. And the clients are
more than willing to sit and
Neil Robinson
talk. While the cliënt is not
always prepared to buy into our
ideas, it gives us more face time
with them. We can use that time
to show the bank has more to
offer than cheap money.'
SOLID FOUNDATIONS
Clearly, the structured finance
team does not spend all its
time out of the office. It also
has its own targets to make
and, as already reported, it did
that extremely well last year. In
fact, the London team came up
with a structure which resulted
in the biggest deal ever done
by an international branch. 'We
arranged a very tax efficiënt,
multi-jurisdictional GBP 255
million Euro-bond issue on
behalf of the bank. A lot of
people in the network were
involved in this - in the
Curaqao office, in financial
markets, the tax, legal and
accounting departments in
Utrecht, and especially Willem
van 't Hooft, who played a
central role in enabling us to
execute this transaction. I'd like
to see more of that, more close
involvement with the network.
In the coming year, we'11 be
putting in place a solid
foundation to grow the
business here. But it's also an
ambition of mine to explore
ideas of mutual benefit with the
other group offices so we can
approach potential cross-border
business from two sides.'
Robert Halcrow and his people have one goal in mind -
moving Rabobank up the tombstone.
For much of the world except
^he US, London is the obvious
centre for syndications.
According to Robert Halcrow,
the reason is there are
hundreds of banks in 'the
square mile', another name for
The City, which are willing,
and even hungry, to lend.
'Many of them have a track
record,' he says, 'while
Rabobank is a relative
newcomer. Our aim is to build
the bank into a name in
syndications. But it's a bit like
the chicken and the egg.
Before you can act with a
corporate, they want to know
you have a track record, but
you can't get a track record
until you've actually done
deals. So it is a slow process.'
GROWING CREDIBILITY
But it is a process which
London Branch is clearly
pushing forward. Inward
syndications have been
handled successfully by Pamela
Green for a number of years.
'She does a tremendous job,'
Halcrow confirms, 'because
you have to make sure you're
invited into every deal you
want to participate in and the
market is very competitive. As
I said, there are a lot of banks
here hungry to lend.' Halcrow
himself is focussing on
outward syndication. 'In the
two years I've been here,' he
says, 'we've managed to
develop this area into what I'd
call the phase of being thought
of as a natural underwriter of
deals with a view to now
focussing on actually arranging
them as well. The way the
bank has gone about
positioning itself
internationally has certainly
lent a lot of credibility to what
we're trying to do here. And I
think the fact we, as a bank,
can add a lot of ingenuity into
our product range makes a big
difference.'
RELATIONSHIP
BANKING
The syndications team works
closely with other sections
within the branch. 'One cliënt,
John Lewis, the top retailer,
used to be a loan cliënt. Two
years ago, I'd say we were just
one lender to them. But by the
beginning of last year, we had
become their biggest lender.
Robert Halcrow
TRADE EN COMMODITY FINANCIERING
W Vijfjaar geleden bestond het klantenbestand slechts uitvier bedrijven. Nu is kantoor London een van de grootste banken op dit
0®*? gebied. Bij de bestaande klanten wordt steeds meer aan cross-selling gedaan,zowel op het gebied van structured finance,
securization en nieuwe treasuryprodukten. Maar ook als het gaat om produkten van de andere kantoren. Op het gebied van commodities richt
Londen zich nu, naast de gebruikelijke bulkprodukten als koffie, cacao en rijst, samen met kantoor New York ook op een nieuwe markt: de handel in
metalen. Hiervoor kan de bestaande kennis binnen het kantoor worden gebruikt.
