Clients remain top priority
deals
•H
CM Group
Banca del Salento
The Greenery
Even amid all of the uncertainties and changes associated with the intensive strategie review now
underway within Rabobank International (Rl), network professionals have been working hard to strengthen
our ties with important customers around the world. Over the last three months, dozens of significant deals
have been finalized. A sampling of these transactions is induded below.
What'sNewS Issue 7 July 1999 I
ong Kong branch successfully closed
a USD 150 million credit-enhanced
US commercial paper (CP) program for
China Merchants Holding Company Lim
ited (also known as the CM Group) in
May. Initially launched at USD 100 mil
lion, the reception was sufficiently enthusi-
astic to justify a further USD 50 million
tranche. It was the first major (non-air-
craft) corporate transaction with the Peo-
ple's Republic of China this year, with a
trend-setting pricing structure, and
demonstrates that despite market caution
about lending to China, top quality bor-
rowers are still able to attract substantial
investor interest. The CM Group, con
troller! by the Chinese Ministry of Com
munications, is active in shipping, termi
nals, dockyards, toll road operations,
Communications, banking and insurance,
From left to right: Frank Fan (CM Group), Alex Cheung (Rt), Zhang Da Chun (CM Group),
May Wong Tung (Rl), Fu Yu Ning (CM Group), Berry Martin (Rl), Eric Poon (Rl), Brian But (Rl)
as well as industry and trading. Active in
southern China and Hong Kong, its end-
1998 assets were sorne USD 5.7 billion.
We won this important mandate due to
close contact with CM decision makers,
proactive marketing, and a speedy re
sponse to its stated requirements. Other
players included ABN Amro and Sumi-
moto of Japan.
Banca del Salento is a privately-held
Italian bank specializing in asset man
agement. When its customers began de-
manding sophisticated investment prod-
ucts such as call options on technology
stocks and other high yielding deposits, it
turned to Rl for help in delivering the
goods. Rl was able to structure a deal
which saw the creation of two such prod-
ucts. The first - a series of 7-year call war
rants on ten well-known high teelt stocks
>was offered to private clients who
ranted Rabobank's name and security on
such long-dated options. The second was
a 7-year put option on the same stocks
from which Salento can issue reverse con
vertible deposits. The deal, as structured
by Rabobank, gave the customer signifi
cant cost savings. Won in competition
with several major banking houses, it en-
hanced our reputation in Italy and demon-
strated our ability to deliver complex
structured products. The deal is low risk
and generated a very high ROS. Success
was assured through the active coopera-
tion of several Rabobankers including
Marco Melano in GFM sales, the credit
trading group in London (which struc
tured the deal together with GED), and
numerous players from the legal, tax,
compliance, market risk, credit, finance
and operations arms.
The Greenery International was estab-
lished at end-1996 by a merger of
nine fresh produce auctions and their co-
ordinating centre, the CBT. Uniting fully
two-thirds of all such growers in the
Netherlands, or 8,000 members, and ac
counting for over half of all production,
The Greenery is one of the most impor
tant fresh produce companies in the
world. In order to strengthen its position
as a business partner to food retailers, the
company acquired the trading companies
Van Dijk Delft and Perkins Fresh Food in
April of last year. Rl, together with ABN
Amro, recently arranged a major NLG
770 million (EUR 349.4 million) revolving
financing facility. Other players included
Commerzbank Nederland and the Na
tional Investment Bank. The facility re-
placed the bridge financing associated
with the 1998 acquisitions, as well as
other credits. An additional standby credit
has been issued to cover other necessary
investments expected this year and next.
These facilities enable The Greenery to re-
alize targets laid out in its business plan.
