Rabobank Group
De Lage Landen
V 'i
The series of'Lausanne' WOTK
meetings for senior
management is aimed at
bringing people together
o OJ j|
to stimulate and promote
doser working relations. Synergy is the key and we found the individual
subsidiaries are fully aware of what is on offer throughout the Group.
Our colleagues at DLL, Interpolis, Robeco, Schretlen, Gilde and Nedship
Bank describe how well the Allfinanz concept is working.
A crucial link in our Allfinanz policy is
De Lage Landen's international leasing
and trade finance expertise. DLL's rapid
expansion over the years is to some
extent due to Rl cooperation. Of DLL's
focus areas - agriculture, health care,
transportation and IT and office
equipment - the first two are shared
by Rl providing many opportunities for
potential synergies. DLL International s
managing director, Ton Toebosch,
offers a few examples to illustrate
networking potential.
Structuring transactions
French link
Common focus
Untapped potential
8 What sNewS Issue5'May 1999
Synergy i
Of all forms of DLL/RI cooperation,
says Toebosch, the Dublin example
is probably the clearest. 'In fact,' he says,
'on the funding side, the cooperation
between we at DLL Ireland and Rl
Ireland is so intense that our front office
people sit side by side with the Dublin
dealers.' The DLL Ireland structured asset
finance people also cooperate closely with
neighbouring Rl I.ondon's in a relation-
ship first established several years ago.
London branch and DLL have structured
a number of multi-million GBP deals for
UK transportation companies and DLL
remains a preferred lead arranger for the
majority of British bus companies.
More recent examples of Irish co
operation include several sophisticated
structured asset deals. The first was for a
nationwide convenience food producer.
DLL Ireland arranged the transaction
which allowed this customer to acquire a
UK bakery conglomerate. The combined
forces of treasury and structured finance
created a fiseally advantageous lease which
deepened the customer intimacy to such an
extent that the combined DLL Ireland/RI
London team became the relationship
banker. 'A structure with a similar result
followed another innovative deal involving
a Scottish dairy company,' continues
Toebosch. 'Tapping into the knowledge
base of global F&A in Utrecht and using
our London contacts, DLL Ireland
structured a satisfactory transaction.'
Within Europe, and still falling under the
same F&A umbrella is a successful deal
executed for a French cliënt of both DLL
and RL This large supermarket chain,
ranking among the top five in terms of
market share, specializes in distribution
of products from small and medium-sized
suppliers. 'We saw potential in the
enormous liquidity problems facing
suppliers due to the long payment terms
demanded hy the supermarket chain,'
says Toebosch. 'So, with Rl in Paris, we
established a guarantee structure for
supplier payment, bridging the time gap
between payment and receipt.'
Health care is another area of
common interest, specifically in
North America. Toebosch points
out that relations between Rl
and DLL in New York are so
close that the two are located
under one roof. 'Once we
identify clients who are looking
to link supply and distribution of
capital goods, Rabobank in New
York will service the customer,
while DLL concentrates on
financial distribution.' In fact,
you begin to get the impression that the
list of existing cooperation could go on
almost indefinitely. Synergy is, it seems,
alive and well between Rl and DLL. Yet,
says Toebosch, there is still one area where
improvement is needed: strategy.
'If you bear in mind that Rl shares two of
our four core areas of focus, then we could
certainly improve the way we tap into our
individual knowledge bases,' Toebosch
says. 'We should work towards more
synergy on a strategie, rather than an
operational level. We are aware of needing
International managing director, Ton Toebosch
more regular contact, and a greater effort
from both sides. I could see us doing
structural work on business plans. DLL
has now expanded to some 1,700 people
(due to the recent acquisition of Tokai
Financial Services as reported in What's
NewS in April). We can now offer a very
relevant knowledge base, equal to RI's
own. The potential of our - as yet -
untapped synergies is enormous. In order
to offer clients full Allfinanz benefits,
which I believe is the goal of our
organization, we intend to improve our-
already good working relations with RL'
