Ronald Blok
So who's really making the deals, you or the sector?
RB: The big home runs are usually because we came up with the
ideas and presented them to our customers. Of course, you can
always help a company if it comes up for auction. But the real
money lies in telling a company that we feel company 'X' in
country 'Y' could be a target for a sale.
How much has Rabobank's global presence been a
factor of your success?
can no longer afford to be national. Essentially, it's a question
of margins. Ifyou want to be in the marketyou have to get big or
get out. There's a lot of pressure on the demand side to squeeze
the inefficiency out of the supply chain. This is especially true of
Europe as it becomes a single market, and it drives M&A deals.
For example, Danish Crown used to export pig meat primal cuts
from Denmark to other countries in Europe, and local companies
then added value to it. In key markets, such as the UK they had
quietly built up a local processing business, but they were smaller
than various local firms who were heavily dependent on them
for supplies of meat. We helped them execute a merger with
Flagship Foods which made them one of the biggest of pig
meat processors in the UK, with sales of approaching £1 billion.
A second key driver of M&A deals is when firms are facing fin-
ancial trouble. Several important deals last year started because
the owners needed to raise money. The art then is trying to find
a good buyer that can address the issues of the business.
The Del Montedeal (see page 21) is a good example.
We look to anticipate the reasons why it might be a good target,
and the problems they may face. Clearly, if there are synergies
or cost savings you can anticipate, it increases the probability of
a successful deal. When we see problems, we can also offer the
solutions which lead to cross-selling opportunities for the bank.
This is a major selling point for our customers; the proactivity
to make the deal happen, anticipating the future and offering
the solutions.
RB: Global presence is partly about the present, but mostly about
the future. About 70% of our transactions are local transactions,
20 The Word
