Deal of the month
WllAT'S NewS Issue 3 March 1996
short news
15
The deal: NLG 450 million
jrefinancing of long- and short-
^Prin debt.
The cliënt: Nutreco, leading
agribusiness group,
Netherlands.
The players: Rabobank - Jacob
van Dijk (corporate banking),
Jaap Zwierenberg and Jos Pak
(legal department), Louis van
Hooft (credit control), Harry
Wolting (credit analyst), Victor
van der Werf (back-office,
financial markets), Henk Visser
and Henk Gentis (executive
support); international offices:
visitor's book)
Rabobankers on the move with
dates and locations for the
•pming period
angkok World Sugar
Conference: Hans Meegens
(International) March 24-28, Hans
Reusch, Anjo van Potten, Arend
Heijbroek (F&A Research) March
25-29, Jan Remie and Shafik
Gabr (trade finance) March 26-27
Buenos Aires Peter Coffeng
(Private Banking) March 27-29,
Fred Huibers (Private Banking)
March 27-30
Curaqao Hans Uppelschoten
(Foreign Offices Dept.) March 8-
15, Hanno Riedlin (International)
March 12-14, Thomas van
Rijckevorsel (Private Banking)
March 12-15, Peter Coffeng
March 30-April 2
Hongkong Jan Remie and
•hafik Gabr March 13-15
ondon Robert Bucklin
(Marketing Business
Development NY), Ton Gardeniers
(Corp Finance NY), lan Reece
Chile, Curaqao and Spain; and
ABN Amro and Fuji Bank.
The management at Nutreco, a
leading agribusiness group, has
big ambitions worldwide. It is
already a leading supplier to
Holland's livestock related
agribusiness. Since the USD 425
million management buy-out
(MBO) from British Petroleum
in 1994, the feed division has
heightened its global profile,
not only in Holland through
Hendrix, but also through
Nanta in Spain and Noria in
(Corporate Banking NY) March
18-20
Luxemburg Fred Huibers March
18, Thomas van Rijckevorsel
March 20-21
Paris Joost Doornbos
(Syndications/lntemational)
March 29, Ivar Cambridge (trade
finance) March 29
Sao Paulo Peter Coffeng March
24-26, Fred Huibers March 24-26
Singapore Thomas van
Rijckevorsel March 25-31, Bram
Kruimel (Foreign Offices Dept.)
March 26-April 2Hans van de
Weerd Sr (Foreign Offices Dept.)
March 26-29, Jaap Slotema March
26-29, Adrian de Young (NY)
March 27-28, Hanno Riedlin
March 27-29
Sydney Adrian de Young (NY)
March 18-22
Utrecht David Dietz (tax
manager NY) March 18-22
Zürich Ben Wentrup March 13-
14, Peter Coffeng March 19, Fred
Huibers March 21-22
France. Today, Nutreco boasts
annual sales of some NLG 4
billion, and is active in over 17
countries worldwide. But the
original MBO was complex,
involving some 28 banks and
institutional investors.
Unfortunately, this has proved a
disadvantage, since the
existence of so many players
has also meant that the
consultation and decision-
making process was
undesirably slow at times.
According to Jacob van Dijk, of
Rabobank's Corporate Banking
Division, 'the Nutreco board
was anxious to reduce the
number of players, gain
flexibility, and deal with a small
core of specialized relationship
banks. Our NLG 450 million
refinancing deal achieves just
that.' The transaction involves a
six-year, NLG 350 million
multi-currency term loan - in
which Fuji Bank is responsible
for NLG 50 million and the
remainder is divided equally
between Rabobank and ABN
Amro. This will repay the
original MBO debt and thus cut
Nutreco's interest costs. In
addition, the two Dutch players
have engineered a working
capital facility totaling NLG
100 million. This will give
Nutreco's management the
flexibility to move decisively,
should attractive ntarket
opportunities arise. Under the
new streamlined deal, Nutreco
should benefit from the food
and agribusiness expertise of
Rabobank: after all, this is the
looking aheacP)-
bank's core business. ABN
Amro brings its strong network
of corporate contacts to the
table. Finally, Fuji offers its
strong regional presence as a
leading player on the Japanese
and Asian banking market.
Nutreco is keeping a keen eye
on the proliferaring business
opportunities in Asia,
particularly for its Aqua
division which is a world
leading feed producer for the
fish farming market, especially
salmon and trout, with
subsidiaries in Chile, Norway
and Canada. Since the MBO in
Jacob van Dijk
1994, management has done all
the right things. This May, it
hopes to unveil a strong profits
statement that will justify its
shareholders' faith. Now, with
three strong partners that
provide the flexibility to strike
when the market opportunities
are ripe, Nutreco can lay the
foundations for a successful
bourse listing in 1997 or 1998.
March
13/03 Official opening Atlanta
13-15/03 Trade Finance Meeting Pacific Rim in Hong Kong
25-27/03 Sugar Sweeteners Conference in Bangkok
28-30/03 Regional Managers Conference Far East in Singapore
April
3-4/04 Regional Managers conference Latin America in Buenos
Aires
14-17/04 Operations Managers Meeting in Utrecht
15-19/04 Private Banking Course
21-23/04 Internal Auditors Meeting in Utrecht
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