Dealing in dairy
J
DAJRY
Newappointments
What'sNewS Issue January/February 2001
Rl London's long-standing successful relationship with market leader
Dairy Crest has reached its latest milestone, with a £425 million syndi-
cated term and revolving credit facility completed at the end of 2000.
Success in syndication
Historietjes
Top dient
Early in 2000, Dairy Crest approached
Rl to bid against Barclays Bank and
NatWcst, to participate in a transaction
that would finance Dairy Crest's largest
and most important acquisition to date.
Rl was subsequently mandated to arrange
and underwrite a five-year £325 million
syndicated facility so the cliënt could
make its offer to purchase the
non-branded cheese and
dairy busincsses of Unigate.
The intervention of Robert
Wiseman Dairies into the
bidding for Unigate resulted
in Dairy Crest having
to up its offer and
consequently increase
its debt requirements
to £425 million: at
this point Rl joincd
forces with The Royal Bank of Scotland
to arrange and underwrite the facility (Rl
was book-runner and agent).
The largest amount Dairy Crest had ever
asked to borrow, it was necessary to con-
siderably broaden the company's banking
group. So prior to general
syndication Rl ap
proached the company's
existing relationship
banks. General syndica
tion proved a great success, in spite of
compctition from high paying telecom
deals that were on offer in a busy market
during the summer months. In the end this
transaction, for a key cliënt, was success-
fully closed, well oversubscribed, with a
total of 26 banks in the syndication.
Top players of the Dairy Crest deal team (I to r): Ben Davies (rela
tionship manager), Rick Llewellyn (syndications), Greville Billyard
(agency), Hilary Maccabe (syndications) and Robert Halcrow
(syndications). Missing: Nick Allen capitaI markets/hedging)
A fruitful relationship dating back to
the early 90s, Dairy Crest first came
into contact with Rl after it had de-
merged from the UK Milk Marketing
Board. In 1996, Rl was chosen to
arrange and underwrite Dairy Crest's first
syndicated loan. Then in March 1998,
Dairy Crest came back to Rl to arrange a
further syndicated facility for its Yoplait
joint venture. 'We have consistently and
successfully delivercd for Dairy Crest,'
says Robert Halcrow, global head of loan
syndication, who has worked on every
Dairy Crest syndicated transaction.
'Through the years, we've maintained
close contact with them. We're the first
bank they call when they piek up the
phone.'
Dairy Crest is the UK's leading supplier of
branded and value-added dairy products.
Country Life Butter, Clover, Willow,
Cathedral City, Frijj and Yoplait's Petit
Filous and Frubes are all Dairy Crest
brands and it is the UK's largest supplier
of Stilton cheese and of dairy-based ingre-
dients to food manufacturers. The merger
with Unigate's dairy and cheese business is
a transforming deal for Dairy Crest and
for the whole dairy sector that continues
to steadily consolidate. Now the UK's
largest dairy company, Dairy Crest holds a
unique position as leader in each segment
of the market. Needless to say, arranging
and closing this deal confirms RI's posi
tion as the lead bank to the company.
Frankfurt has welcomed a ncw acting
general manager, Helmut Vortanz. Ap-
pointed 1 December, 2000, Vortanz has
more than 15 years experience with the
organization. Most recently, Vortanz
was Frankfurt's head of operations. He
succeeds Manfred Schneider who has
decided to pursue other career opportu-
nities outsidc Rl.
The new year has brought in a new
treasurer - as of 1 January, Andrew
Quoyle will be responsible for all treas-
ury activities within Rabobank Interna
tional. Based in London, Quoyle's first
priority will be to organize the interface
between the Rl treasury activities and
the new Group treasury function.
Armed with seven years experience with
Rl, Quoyle has relocated to the UK
from his previous post as head of treas
ury activities, Australia and New
Zealand.
With effect from 1 January, Henny
Geukers is appointed interim global
head of compliance. He succeeds
Richard Collins.
Bram Kruimel, head of corporate
development, has replaced Roel van
Veggel as interim head of marketing.
Van Veggel has taken a position in
Rabobank Nederland per 1 January.
The managing board welcomes its
newly appointed secretary to the board,
Willem Hein van der Loo. Beginning I
January, Van der Loo has taken over the
position previously held by Rachel
Bosman, who has been appointed busi
ness manager Asia. Van der Loo joined
Rl in 1995, and his previous experience
includes account manager in the US and
project manager DGR1.
