tabobank leijing Represent 5 SF. o ft sa tï X Off'ce What's News Issue 2 February 1996 international networking 5 lengthv meeting with senior people from BAOSTEEL, the largest and most modern steel plant in China with an annual output of 11 million tonnes in 1996 due to the completion of a new plant and USD 8 billion in worldwide sales turnover. 'We also had a long discussion with people from the Shanghai Machinery Equipment Import Export Corporation (SMEC),' Hedrich continues. 'Both ^ompanies have subsidiaries in Hamburg. We spent a few hours with them, and that is exceptional for a Chinese business meeting. In addition, we also had discussions with an official from the regional department of economie relations. The general manager of a German subsidiary in Beijing also attended that meeting. In fact, we really got a lot out of the contacts on both sides.' CONCRETE BUSINESS The combined Hamburg-Shanghai approach has proved just how effective networking can be. 'Rather than merely a fact-finding mission,' Hedrich says, 'the visit actually brought in some concrete business. Both BAOSTEEL and SMEC's Isubsidiaries in Hamburg will become 'rade finance clients in February. Olivia and 1 are both really happy at this outcome.' And so is the bank. The fact that Shanghai is in the process of upgrading to branch status and a new representative office has been opened in Beijing shows how seriously Rabobank is looking at opportunities in the People's Republic. DE HAMBURG- SHANGHAI LIJN Hamburg, Duitsland's grootste haven en Shanghai, drukste havenstad in China, hebben sinds tien jaar een speciale samenwerkingsovereenkomst. Burkhard Hedrich van Rabobank Hamburg en Shanghai's Olivia Chen zijn bezig om deze ook voor de Rabobank te laten werken. In Hamburg zijn ongeveer 150 Chinese bedrijven vertegenwoordigd, waaronder grote Chinese staatsbedrijven. De kansen voor handelsfinanciering zijn dan ook legio. In China bezochten Chen en Hedrich een aantal van deze bedrijven, waaronder BOASTEEL, China's grootste staalfabriek. Het eerste resultaat is al binnen. Met twee van de bezochte bedrijven wordt al zaken gedaan. She has only recently started establishing the representative office in the Chinese capital and will need some time to build up contacts. But in Hamburg we're already looking forward to seeing what we can do together.' MORE NETWORKING Singapore was also on Hedrich's agenda and, again, combined efforts paid off. 'We made joint visits to six German subsidiaries in Singapore,' says Hedrich. 'One existing cliënt and five prospects in the coffee, grain, oil, feedstuff and fertilizer sectors. The result was two new credit lines for USD 10 million each to RECRUITING FOR COMMUNICATION 'It is certainly a very attractive market for us in Hamburg,' Hedrich confirms. 'In fact, management in Frankfurt is convinced there is a lot more we can do through the large Chinese presence here in the city. Because of this presence, there is also a significant Chinese community, many of whom are German-born and educated. We've been given the green light to start looking for an experienced banker from the Chinese community here in the city because we feel language is extremely important. If you want to do business, you have to be able to communicate.' BEIJING NEXT The main focus of Chen and Hedrich's joint marketing effort was Shanghai, not least because this free-trade zone offers a lot of potential for combined operations. 'The next time we get together, probably later this year,' says Hedrich, 'we'11 also be working with Dai Hu (below) in Beijing. finance and facilitate self-liquidating trade transactions backed by the Hamburg- based parent companies. In Hong Kong, I also met with a number of grain, tapioca and fertilizer trading houses that look set to become clients of our office there. That was really useful.' RECIPROCAL EFFORTS For Hedrich, this first introduction to the bank and its network has clearly been an extremely positive and fruitful experience. 'I can only say that this combined cross- selling approach shows how enormous our potential is. We all did a lot of preparatory work and I am certainly looking forward to doing more with the trade finance people in Asia to strengthen our business in Hamburg. And that will be reciprocal from our side, too. There is a lot of trade between Germany and Asia - the team in Hamburg will be putting every effort into ensuring we get a real slice of that particular pie.'

Rabobank Bronnenarchief

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