iP
IT Update
EAL OF THE MONTH
What'S NewS Issue 1 January 1997
info exchange
15
This networked deal is not only the best of this month'
bunch, but also walked off with the Agri Deal of the
Year Award.
The cliënt: IAT Group Inc.,
Cayman Islands
The deal: Strategie acquisition
of Fresh Del Monte Produce,
N.V.
The players: New York
(Corporate Finance), Atlanta,
Mexico City, and Santiago de
Chile.
When Santiago's Ronald Blok
fcirst heard rumours that Fresh
Del Monte Produce might be
up for sale in late 1995, little
did he suspect that his
origination of this intelligence
would eventually be converted
into the 1996 Agri-deal of the
Year. Valued at some USD 500
million, it is the outcome of a
complex and arduous
intercontinental negotiation
that lent new meaning to the
concepts of globalism and
teamwork.
'It began as an M&A advisory,
making a pitch for the
mandate and then guiding our
cliënt through the auction
process, but it became much
jriore complex because of the
Ptructuring and negotiation of
the acquisition and the
financing required,' explains
Bill Staby of New York's
M&A team. 'An extraordinary
number of Rabobankers were
involved in helping to realize
Ronald Blok: 'Frits Mönking of
Mexico office got the talks back
on track.
this deal,' says Ton Gardeniers,
head of Corporate Finance in
North America.
Fresh Del Monte Produce of
Coral Gables, Florida is the
world's third largest producer
of bananas and the biggest
producer of pineapples. It
boasts annual sales of USD 1.2
billion. As a result of this deal,
it will be integrated into IAT, a
holding company controlled by
the Jerusalem-born (but
Santiago-based) Palestinian
Mohammed Abu-Ghazaleh.
This company is one of the
most profitable fresh-fruit
shipping, receiving and
marketing operations in the
VRUCHTBARE SAMENWERKING
De verkoop van Fresh Del Monte Produce
(gevestigd in Florida, en eigendom van G.E.A.M. een
holding gecontroleerd door de Mexicaanse
regering) aan IAT Group (een holding gecontroleerd door een
Palestein, woonachtig in Santiago) bracht een groot aantal collega's
op de been. Vanuit New York, Atlanta, Mexico en Santiago de Chile
werd hard gewerkt om deze complexe deal tot een goed einde te
brengen. New York zorgde voor het M&A advies, Chili voor een
overbruggingsfinanciering en Atlanta voor nieuw werkkapitaal. De
||ening wordt gesyndiceerd door Rabobank New York en Citibank. De
n/erkoop verliep moeizaam door de verschillende nationaliteiten aan
de onderhandelingstafel en de onderhandelingen werden op enig
moment zelfs afgebroken. Ons kantoor in Mexico kreeg de partijen
echter weer aan tafel.
world. Already one of the
world's leading exporters of
seasonal fruits like grapes,
peaches, and plums, IAT has
now broadened and
strengthened its product range
by acquiring a highly
recognized brand-name along
with a full range of tropical
fruits such as bananas and
pineapples.
The seller is G.E.A.M., a
holding company controlled by
the Mexican government
represented by Lehman Bros.
The deal is being financed
from internal IAT resources
and a bridge loan provided by
Rabobank Chile. As Roger
Barr of the New York M&A
team explains, there were two
challenging financings that
needed to be put together: the
bridge loan was orchestrated
together with Harry van Eelen
in Chile. Betty Mills (Atlanta)
was the leader of the team that
put together the new working
capital facility for Fresh Del
Monte. This loan is
underwritten - and will be
syndicated - by Rabobank
New York and Citibank.
Says Bill Staby: 'The deal was
challenging for financial,
geographical and
cultural reasons. First, you had
the leveraged nature of the
company. Then, the potential
for cultural clashes around the
negotiating table was
considerable: a Middle Eastern
cliënt acquiring a Mexican-
directed company with
operations around the world.
Discussions between the
parties broke down a number
of times. The close
collaboration by a number of
Rabo offices was illustrated
when, at one such moment of
crisis, Frits Mönking (Mexico
office) made a few quiet calls
that got the talks back on
track on the Mexican side.'
Ultimately, the deal was an
example of how a globally
dispersed network can
coordinate its work to help a
cliënt acquire a springboard
for growth.
Rabobank International is
being fitted with a
sophisticated intranet aimed at
connecting all of its offices in a
single global web.The intranet,
(or private internal network),
will initially ease the exchange
of e-mail across national
frontiers and time zones. It has
been installed now in some 25
offices and will be officially
inaugurated this month, says
project coördinator Jo
Knippenberg.
Flowever, e-mail is only the
first of several 'groupware'
capabilities that the new
system will deliver in the
course of this year - 1997. For
example, it will permit
conferencing and newsgroups
on subjects of common
interest, like agribusiness. It will
allow members of a project
team to share the same files,
regardless of location. And it
will also deliver password-
based access to customer-
relation databases, in which all
communication with Rabobank
clients will be stored,and there
are also plans to install a
gateway to the Internet - the
global public network - later
this year.
The purpose of the new
intranet is twofold. First, it will
help improve customer service
by making it easier for
Rabobankers to fluidly and
efficiently exchange important
information. Second, by making
it possible to remotely access
application programs that are
installed and managed in one
place, it will help save costs.
Thus, for example, an officer in
Dublin will be able to access
the Devon and Olympic
systems,even though they are
'resident'in Utrecht and
Singapore, respectively.This
principle of remote access
throughout the worldwide
network will be important to
future development, as it will
make it possible to more
quickly start up new offices
than was previously the case.
