Deal of the Month
^OTABLE DEALS
What's NewS Issue 8 August/September 1997
info exchange
15
The cliënt: Queensland
Cotton Corporation
(QCC - Australia) and
Anderson Clayton
Corporation (ACC - US)
The deal: QCC acquisition
of ACC
The players: Rod Campbell
(Sydney), Dennis Britt
(San Francisco), Adrian
De Young and David Reisman
(New York), Helen Crick
(Sydney), Hugo Steensma,
Bernie Webb (Brisbane
office).
4fehe acquisition of the US
company ACC by Australia's
QCC should prove one of
1997's most significant deals
for the global cotton industry.
Rabo Australia will be co-
financing the transaction and
according to Sydney's senior
manager corporate banking,
Rod Campbell, what may
prove even more significant is
that 'the relationship between
the two companies was
certainly developed further
during our World Cotton
Conference last spring'. The
two companies had been
A look inside the production hall of the Queensland Cotton Corporation.
talking for some time, but it
was the conference which
brought both parties together
to cement the relationship
and progress the deal.
'We've been marketing our
financial services to
Queensland Cotton over the
past three years with limited
opportunity,' Campbell
explains. 'They have a long
term relationship with a
major Australian trading
bank and strong performance
in recent years has reduced
funding requirements.
However, the company was
well aware of our speciality -
two directors are members of
Rabo Australia's F&A
Advisory Board. The US
acquisition was the first real
opportunity for RI to look at
a transaction for QCC. The
financing was put to tender
with at least four hanks
bidding. In the end, a deal
was struck with Common-
DEALING IN
KNOWHOW
RI joined Citibank in the
structuring and placement of
NLG 213 million for Sira
Investments, which invests in
emerging market securities.
The issue has already been
placed with institutional
investors in the Netherlands
and Luxembourg. Besides
considerable fee income, this
transaction enhanced our
experience and reputation as
investment bankers.
Congratulations to Robert-Jan
de Clercq Zubli, Carola
Oomen, Johan Jansma, Johan
Lont, Rutger Brascamp, Tom
van der Weijden, Theo
Hendriks, Theo Visser, Haijo
Dijkstra, Rob Wiesman, Kees
van Dijk, Adri Meijdam, Kees
Versteeg and Boris Verbeek.
Both RI and member bank
Nijmegen are looking at healthy
cliënt relations now the St
Radboud in the Dutch city has
become our first customer in the
academie hospital sector. Says
senior account manager at RI,
Luuk Hans: 'this is a 10-year
project involving an investment
totalling around NLG 1 billion.
Besides being the first mandate
from a teaching hospital, it will
also strengthen our position in
other health care sectors.'
Congratulations to (from left to right) Luuk Hans, Bart Roelofs,
C.W. Gramser, Gerke van de Heuvel, Peter de Bruin and Hans Honig.
Maarten van der Kloot-Meijburg (also RI) and Cees Oerlemans of the
Dutch local Rabobank Nijmegen, are missing from this picture.
wealth Bank of Australia on a
50/50 basis for the total debt
of USD 45 million. We will
also be providing funding for
QCC's working capital
requirements to a value of
AUD 20 million.'
The acquisition will make
QCC the largest ginning
company in the world and
give the organization a strong
presence in the US where
Anderson Clayton, a
Rabobank San Francisco
cliënt, owns and operates
34 cotton gins, two
cottonseed oil mills and three
cotton warehouses across
Arizona and California.
One direct result of the deal
will be the emergence of a
market leader with a year-
round growing and ginning
cycle, and access to a secure
and reliable supply of high
quality processed cotton from
both the northern and
southern hemispheres.
'Basically,' Campbell says,
'it will mean a more effective
supply of cotton to world
markets, including the
lucrative Asian market which
both companies currently
service. What is exciting
about this deal is that it
underpins the importance of
events such as the conference
which not only brings
together industry represen-
tatives, but also highlights our
capabilities as an international
financier to F&A. That's the
cliënt side. In terms of our
own networking within the
organization, our co-workers
in San Francisco played a real
role.' Clearly, this is
international deal making at
its best.
looking ahead
September
16-18 World Beer and
Beverage Forum, Munich
19 Acquisitions Monthly
Seminar on Food
Beverage, London
October
7-8 Fruit Juice Conference,
Amsterdam
November
18-21 VIV-Europe, Utrecht