deals Eurofresh Beekman Coulter Creating an Indonesian cooperative BECKMAN developed a tailored ven- CAPITAL of how intragroup bene fits can spring from a strategy of building longterm customer re- lationships. 'Rabobank definitely opened the door for us,' said Donald Flassing, TMOdeal Tate and Lyle 14 What's NewS Issue 1 January/February 2000 Over the last month, San Francisco has been involvcd in two deals of particular note. The first was for Eurofresh, Inc., the leading North Ameri can producer of hydroponically grown greenhouse tomatoes. The company opcr- ates 100 acres of state-of-the-art green house facilities in Arizona, vvith plans to expand to a total of 240 acres. On the strength of our long term relationship with the cliënt as well as our specific agribusiness expertise, our San Francisco office was asked by the borrower to join a USD 65 million financing led by Bank of America. The deal not only generates a powerful ROS, and presents multiple spinoff opportunities in the arca of deriva tives and private placements, but it also marks a further suecess in hothouse pro- duce, a target F&A sector. The second deal was cap- tured in cooperation with the Rabobank Group leasing sub- sidiary De Fage Fanden (DFL) Financial Services and involved Beekman Coulter, Ine (BCI), a world wide designer, manu- facturer and marketer of laboratory Rabobank will help to set up a cooperative banking system in Indonesia, assisting the Indonesian Cooperative Council (DFKOPIN) with both expertise and technical support to establish a cooperative that will be based on the Rabobank model. The program will help the government achieve its policy of increasing the role of small and medium sized businesses and cooperatives in the Indonesian economy. We will rnake our contribution through Rabo International Advisory Services (RIAS), our consultancy subsidiary. In the first instance, RIAS will concentrate on identifying the needs in Indonesia and on assessing the current state of affairs. Indonesia has a large nurnber of coopera tives, some of which are also engaged in banking, even if there is no overarching Gerard van Empel (left), director RIAS, Kweek Kian Gie, Coordinating Minister for Economie Affairs, and H.A.M Nurdin Haiid, President DEKOPtN sign the agreement. instrument systems and related products for the healthcare market. Based in Fuller- ton, California, BCI has been a cliënt of Rabobank International's lifc sciences arm in healthcare since 1997. This month, De Fage Landen successfully dor finance program for V^L/ULf trV the cliënt, in an exantple Vice President of the healthcare group at De Fage Landen Financial Services - US. 'With its international reputation and capabilities, the bank played a pivotal role in our winning the account.' The deal represented a milestone for all partics, not least because we managed to edge out strong US compctition from such players as Copelco and GE Capital. The program covers all of BCI's North American diag- nostic equipment, and a Furopean startup of the program is foreseen for later this year. DLL will provide marketing and administrative support, fund all qualifying buyer purchases, and assume the prepon- derance of the default risk. Because of its structure, the deal also qualifies for off- balance sheet treatment. The program should produce an initial annual sales volume of USD 75 million, with this sunt rising during the program five year life. cooperative banking system. Our cliënt, DEKOP1N, is the umbrella organization of Indonesian cooperatives, most of which are active in the agricultural field, as well as fields such as housing, retail tradc, and financial services for members. Rabobank International's Turkish operation in Istanbul has announced an important USD 30 million grain financing package arranged in coopera tion with Rabobank London for the Turkish State Grain Board (known as TMO). TMO is not only Turkey's leading grain purchaser and exporter, but a signif icant force in world grain markets. The financing requirements for a company with such extensive purchasing commit- ments to Turkish farmers is quite high: as much as several hundred million USD per season. To date, the crossborder funding requirements have been met by syndicated loans backed by Turkish Treasury guaran- tees. However, there are limits to state funds available to cover such guarantees. This loan follows a larger initial trans action agreed at the end of 1998, and it demonstrates the tangible benefits of our commitment to cultivating longterm cliënt relationships. Both financings have been secured against warehouse receipts. In Dallas, we recently closed a financing for the purchase of Tate and Lyle's 50% partnership interest in a cattle liquid feed supplement business located in Nebraska. Rabobank's solution for the customer included both senior revolving and term debt (part of which will be syndicated), subordinated debt, and interest rate swaps. It is an excellent transaction both from the gross revenue and ROS perspectives, and has considerably en- hanced our intimacy with this important cliënt. The transaction team from our North American operation included Shane Bownds, Doug Muller, Wink Mora, Pieter Kodde and Bruce Baccus. Polly Coe, Nancy O'Connor and Bob Mandula provided credit structuring support and recommendations.

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