Rabobank's Mergers and
Acquisitions team clinched
its biggest deals ever last year,
and is looking to grow again in
2005. Specializing in mid-sized
F&A transactions, the Mergers
and Acquisitions team is
starting to give the bigger
players such as Goldman
Sachs and Morgan Stanley
a run for their money as more
clients are opening their doors
to Rabobank. The Word talks
to Ronald Blok and Michael
Bourke, who are responsible
for Europe outside the
Netherlands, about Mergers
and Acquisitions' rising success.
Michael Bourke
In 2004, you booked over 20 deals in your territory.
What brought you to this level?
What's happening in the F&A sector that so many
deals are cropping up?
o3
Michael Bourke (MB): We've got F&A dedicated Relationship
Managers and Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) specialists talking
to local companies and creating the deals. When the bigger
competitors do M&A deals in the F&A sector, a cliënt will come
to them. We're out there making it happen, putting ideas to a
cliënt, and that's what keeps them coming back.
Ronald Blok (RB): It's not that we're stealing the deals from
the bigger players, on the contrary, we're making these deals
happen. We built up quite a track record last year. Once we've
done a few deals, clients keep coming back for more, so we've
reached a point of natural growth. Our proactivity, dedication
to the cliënt and sector knowledge has all come together.
MB: In Europe there are a couple of big themes. Most F&A
companies have been owned, operated and oriented nationally.
One of the changing features of this sector is that companies
