Delivering the
Information
WHAT'S NewS Issue 5 Ma/ 1997
rabobankers at work
5
The job of research analist is indispensable within Rabobank.
Australian-born Judith Hamilton is responsible for the research at M&A in
London. It is her job to feed a steady stream of information to the team headed
up by John Cripps, and to make the results of her work available to other units
in the M&A network to support cross-border deals.
London office's
research analyst
Judith Hamilton:
'The more you give
your clients good
information, the
more they help you
in return.
'We try to maintain a high level of
cooperation within the network,' remarks
Hamilton, who adds that: 'A growing
number of our deals straddle national
frontiers. Our observation is that the more
you give your clients good information,
the more they help you in return. And this
benefits the entire network at the end of
the day.'
QUALITY CANDIDATES
A practical illustration: The M&A
department in Utrecht was mandated to
sell a subsidiary of Sobel involved in
manufacturing and distributing petfoods.
A call was put out to the network for
ideas on likely purchasers - and a list of
potential candidates was then agreed with
the vendors. 'In this review process, the
quality of the candidates is always more
important than the quantity,' says
Hamilton. There is no point listing every
player in a given sector if half of them
cannot complete a deal for one reason or
another.'
'We identified Harrisons Crosfield in
the UK as a candidate for the Sobel
business - and they were contacted
accordingly. They confirmed their interest
and were supplied with an information
memorandum and other details of the
business. Formal meetings between the
two companies as well as visits to Sobel's
premises followed: after several months,
negotiations led to a successful conclusion
to the deal.'
'Each deal goes through several distinct
phases, and there might be several deals
being elaborated at any given time. The
trick is to make sure that the right
information is delivered to the right place
and at the right time,' Hamilton says.
MARKETING MARKETING
However, there is more to the job of
London's Research Analyst than writing
reports: the M&A division, together with
the London branch as a whole, is actively
marketing itself through its own network
of senior cliënt contacts and also through
sponsorship of specialized seminars, which
have to be organized as well.
For instance, Rabobank will be
sponsoring this years' Acquisitions
Monthly 'M&A in the Food and Drinks
Industry' seminar - which will focus on
the theme of building a pan-European
business. Among other things, London
M&A is responsible for making contact
with senior industry figures and arranging
for them to address the conference
participants. This will further enhance our
profile among decisive multinationals as
well as large domestic UK companies in
this strategie field.
Rabobank will also be sponsoring this
year's 'International Transport and
Logistics' conference - a venue at which
'everybody who is anybody' is present
each year.
IMAGE BUILDING
'For us, this activity is very much like
sponsoring race cars or cycle teams,' says
Hamilton. 'You get your name on all the
leaflets, you can distribute all of your
reports, you get to select many of the
speakers. Thus, you can develop inroads
among participants before the conference
even begins. You're building your image
and developing your network of high-level
contacts at the same time.
And when the whole thing is done, your
delegates should walk away saying: 'these
Rabobank people really know the
business. We need to be talking with
them.'
'The more senior the industry players one
deals with,' observes London M&A chief
John Cripps, 'the more crucial the quality
of our research as a competitive tooi.'
CROSS-BORDER OPPORTUNITIES
In addition to the seminars mentioned
above, London will also host the next
biannual meeting of our M&A network,
scheduled for September. Here,
opportunities for cross-border deals and
general trends will be discussed. 'This
internal networking is an essential part of
staying on top of transnational
developments as they unfold,' says
Hamilton, who is organizing the event.
'These meetings are designed to spark
ideas and lead to new business.'
Another new initiative is the formation of
the Rabobank UK Food and Agribusiness
Advisory Board. This began last year
under the joint chairmanship of Sir
Michael Franklin, former UK Minister for
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and
Rabobank's Henk Visser, with John
Cripps acting as secretary.
STRATEGY SESSION
Representatives from top level
multinational and the larger UK players
gather for a lunch, and also for a separate
weekend strategy session, to discuss a
particular strategie theme. This year's
seminar is being held in the Netherlands
and it will concentrate on health and
safety in the food industry - a timely issue
in light of the BSE outbreak and the
uproar about genetically modified grains.
'This will provide yet another marketing
platform for our organization to develop
closer ties with some of the bigger UK and
Irish food and agri businesses, and it will
assist us in learning what is of relevance to
our clients,' Hamilton explains.
RESEARCH ANALIST
ONMISBAAR
Australische Judith
Hamilton levert in London
een onmisbare bijdrage aan het werk van
M&A als research analist.Volgens haar draait
het erom de juiste informatie, op het juiste
tijdstip op de juiste plaats te krijgen. Maar
Hamilton schrijft niet alleen rapporten. M&A
market zichzelf heel bewust door seminars
te organiseren en/ofte sponsoren.
