c
Construction
for SUCCESS
c
Rabobank
Nc\i/sj,
What's NewS
Monthly internal newsletthr for the Central Banking Sector
Issue 2 February 1996 J
in brief
The keyword in Rabobank's strategie thrust into the competitive
world of investment banking is innovation. And it was an
innovative product that enabled us to successfully ernerge as co-
lead manager in the important NLG 234 million equity issue of
NBM-Amstelland, the Dutch construction and trading group that
was successfully received by investors on the Amsterdam stock
market this winter. In doing so, Rabobank nudged aside the
much larger ING banking and insurance giant which - together
with NBM-Amstelland's house bank ABN-Amro - lead-managed
a convertible bond issue for the company in 1994.
NBM-Amstelland was anxious to arrange this second issue to
finance its costly 1995 acquisition of Cementbouw - a huge
building materials trading company that will help it hedge
against the economie swings that are so common to the
cyclically-inclined construction industry.
Continued on page 6.
contents
CHILE - IT'S OFFICIAL
Although the Santiago
operation has been up and
running for almost 18 months
and now has a staff of five, the
team has been waiting for a
nood moment to open
Bjfficially. The moment was
provided by the bank's
executive board on January
22. During an exploratory visit
to Latin America by the whole
board, chairman Herman
Wijffels did the honours for
Ronald Blok and his team. 'It
was really successful,' says
Blok. 'We arranged a dinner
for around 160 clients and pros-
pects for the official launch.'
Chile is an extremely attractive
market for the bank. Over the
past 12 years, it has generated
consistent growth of around 7
percent annually. Chile acts as
something of a blue print for
other economies in Latin
■America due to its ongoing
'rong performance; it also
exports know-how and
expertise to its neighbours.
Essentially a trading nation, it
is export oriented, with copper
as main product, although it
also produces a broad variety
of fruit and salmon for outside
markets, much of which is
shipped to and through Rotter
dam. 'The trade finance oppor-
tunities are very exciting,' says
Blok, 'and we're already taking
full advantage of them. It was
great to see the board here and
1 think a lot of our clients were
very impressed.'
FORECAST IN ANTWERP
In the now almost traditional
International Financing Review
(IFR) has awarded Rabobank
the 'Guilder Bond House' title
for 1995. The main reason for
the accolade is that the bank
increased its market shave from
17 to 25 percent without using
aggressive pricing.
presentation of the bank's
forecast for the coming year,
the Belgian operation again
played host to clients and top
management on January 18. A
similar presentation is also
given in Utrecht.
The 'Forecast' produced
annually by the bank comprise
a financial and economie
overview of how Rabobank
sees national and international
macro-economic develop-
ments. Essentially designed to
open up dialogues with clients,
the forecasts are often frank
expositions on Rabobank's
thinking. Board member Wim
van den Goorbergh presented
the forecast, supported by
Antwerp's treasury manager,
Walter van Mieghem. They
formed the panel with Tim
Zumpolle, head of the commer
cial department, for the
ensuing discussion. Forecast 96
also appears in English and is
available from marketing
services, +31 (0)30 216 2804.
WHAT'S NEWS THIS
MONTH?
Healthy relations - the bank
and Dutch health care 3
Working ports - the Hamburg-
Shanghai line 4
UK special - Rabobanking in
The City 8
CBS organization - Chairman
Herman Wijffels on the future
of CBS 15
Private banking expansion -
building critical mass 16
Talking heads operations
Henk van der Stelt 20
rwxwatks:
