in the network
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2 What'sNewS Issue 7 January 1999
Indian bill of health
Dealer of
the year
Our health care focus has
been exposed to the
potentially huge Indian
market, thanks in part to a
recent conference held in
Mumbai by the Indian
Chamber of Commerce.
Keynote speaker was our own
health care global manager,
Arnold Kuijpers, who
demonstrated our Rabobank
knowledge in his speech on
global trends in health care.
And, being the only
commercial and investment
bank world-wide dedicated to
health care, our focus is
starting to pay off. Although
our Indian licence was only
approved last August, we are
already working on two
mandates, the fïrst a private
placement equity deal for an
Indian hospital and the
second, also a private
placement equity deal, for a
regional pharmaceutical
company. Yet the real
potential, according to
Kuijpers, lies in a health
insurance bill which is
currently waiting to be passed
in Indian parliament.
Following that, Kuijpers
predicts, 'health care in India
will become a booming
business. There will be huge
opportunities for the
pharmaceutical industry, both
for generics and new
technology drugs which will
substitute costly surgery.' All
things considered, the Indian
market is looking to be
another to add to our already
healthy track record. In just
two years, our health care
focus has a credit exposure
exceeding USD 5 billion,
operating in over 20 countries
with some 300 clients.
Eric Hommels
For the second
year running,
our own spot
dealer Eric
Hommels has
been awarded
the Reuters
Nederland
'Dealer Of The
Year Award'.
The award was
initiated five years ago to
Odd as it may seem, the global
children's craze Teletubbies has
hit London equities - Tinky
Winky has sneaked into their
latest monthly report on
Barclays. For more on the
Teletubby findings, contact the
equities team in London.
identify the best performer
on the Reuters matching
dealing system known as the
Dealing 2000/2 Spot.
According to Reuters,
Hommels won the award for
being the largest single
contributor in the
Netherlands on the Reuters
system overall and for his
efforts in supporting the
system in the currency pair
USD/DEM.
Starting fresh this new year is an
important new face to the
Rabobank International (Rl)
managing board, French citizen
Alain Younes, responsible for all
our activities falling under
administration (including
operations and IT). Younes began
his career at Regie Renault in Paris
before moving on to senior
management positions at Banque
Paribas in Paris, then Paribas
Capital Markets in London and at
JP Morgan. His most recent
position was with Bankers Trust in
London, where he was global head
of operations and technology for
all Banker's Trust business in the
European region. According to
Younes, 'there were many
compelling reasons for joining Rl,
including its European focus and
the opportunity for me to be part
ofan influential player in the
historicaI evolution of this region. I
am extremely excited about the
challenges and successes lying
aheadofus.'
Not only new face, but also filling
a brand new investment banking
position is London's Nigel Labram,
global head offood and
agribusiness (F&A) risk
management commodity price
products. Labram joins us directly
from a three year stint with ING
Barings where he was head of
structured finance, having been
originally recruited to incorporate
ING's commercial banking with
the investment banking side of
Barings in London. Prior to that
Labram was chief executive of his
own commodity group of
companies formed following a
management buyout and before
that he was with Mars
Confectionery for a period of close
to ten years as head of commodity
procurement in the UK. Now
heading our new business venture,
Labram is concentrating on price
risk within our F&A portfolio.
Through utiiizing sophisticated
currency techniques in investment
banking, Labram hopes to create a
model applicable to our F&A
portfolio. Labram made the move
to our bank following a series of
meetings with senior managers
from both commercial and
investment banking, 'and I liked
their approach,' he says. 'White
being realistic, the mood is very
much one of wanting to make this
new venture work. I feit I wanted
to be not only part of that team t
but also part of what is growing
into one of the world's leading
integrated banks.'Labram is also
to be one of the new members of
the F&A policy committee (see
page 7 for related article).
Masthead
Editorial Staff
Editor in Chief Mirjam Diepenbrock
Managing Editor Anne Lavelle (The Write Company)
Editors David Brown, Samantha Dobson
Distri but ion Len Fraser
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