deals
M&A London - right on target
Hong Kong hit
stop press
Success in a nutshell
i 2 What's NewS Issue 2 March 2000
Our London M&A team
recently acted as co-Iead
adviser to the 3i Group in its EUR 330
million acquisition of onc of
the UK's leading independent
express delivery companies,
Target Worldwide Express
Limited. 3i Group is the
leading European venture
capital company and its invest-
ment in Target Worldwide is
the largest ever in the com-
pany's history as well as one of
the largest secondary huy-outs
in the UK to date.
Target Worldwide, which has
annual sales in excess of EUR
170 million and operating
profits of EUR 30 million,
specializes in business to
business express deliveries in
the UK and Ireland.
Target Worldwide was anxious to cxpand
into Continental Europe and the founding
shareholders concluded that the time was
right to sell their remaining shares, using
an auction process. 3i approached the Rl
logistics team carly on in the process to
guide them on Target Worldwide's
potential, both in terms of business
operations and transaction pricing.
'Careful appraisal by the Rabobank team,
coupled with an in-depth knowledgc of
Our Hong Kong branch recently
concluded a HK 1.8 billion
(EUR 240 million) five-year term loan
facility for the Hong Kong-based cliënt,
COSCO-HIT Terminals, which operates
a major container terminal in the former
colony with a capacity of TEU 1.6
million. Says Alex Cheung, head of the
corporate commercial banking division:
'Rabobank was the only foreign player
invited to take part in the transaction,
in which we acted as arrangcr and
underwriter, and which also included
Hang Seng Bank and the Bank of China
Group. Our participation was largely
the result of our solid performance in
the Hong Kong syndicated loan market
the logistics market, meant that we were
able to advise the 3i Group on the poten
tial risks, on the hidden value within some
of the business areas, and on a likely
medium-term exit strategy for the
company,' says Nicolas Thum of London
M&A. 3i has syndicated a small portion
last year as well as our intimacy with
COSCO, the trading house Hutchison
Whampoa, and Hong Kong
International Terminals Limited (HIT).
Finally, we engaged in an intensive
three-month marketing effort and were
able to move quickly once the client's
decision was made. COSCO is a 50/50
joint venture between HIT, a Hutchison
Whampoa-affiliated Hrm, and COSCO
Pacific, a subsidiary of COSCO Beijing,
of the Target Worldwide equity to
Gresham Trust, a recognized co-investor
in the logistics sector. RI's logistics team
gave extensive pre-syndica-
tion advice. This is the
second transaction that our
logistics team has completed
with 3i in as many months;
the earlier deal being the sale
of EPS Limited for a price
that set new sectoral
benchmarks. 'As a result of
these two deals, wc have
become an advisor of choice
to 3i, front a standing start
less than a year ago,' says
Henrik Tuxcn, another
member of the team that also
includes Andrew Robinson
and Robert Rattray. 'What
this means is that we'vc
effectively been able to break the strangle-
hold of the investment banks and Big Fivc
accountancy firms in order to obtain a
recognized position in this field.'
the government-eontrolled group which
is China's leading shipping enterprise.'
Besides Alex Cheung and his team,
people working on the deal team
included May Wong Tung, head of
corporate finance for NE Asia and Berry
Marttin, head of international
corporates in Hong Kong, as well as
senior relationship manager Keivin Ho,
and team leader Brian But of
syndication (NE Asia).
3i's targetted team - Robert Rattray, Nic Thum, Henrik Tuxen and
Andrew Robinson
London's M&A team has done it
again. As we went to press,
JohnCripps, Roger Barr, Christoph
Friedrich and George Stephen, were
busily faxing through the details of
their latest signing - the disposal by the
UK financial services ED&F Man
Group of their US peanut shelling
business to the Birdsong Corporation.
Working with our people in New York,
the London team were mandated as
advisor to the vendor, ED&F Man.
This was the second divestment in
recent weeks by the international
financial services group which is
refocussing on asset management
and brokerage. The disposal is valued
at US1) 100 million.
