Kuiting too
on thetable
COOPERATION PAYS OFF
Key departments involved in this
deal include:
Relationship Management, GFM,
Loan Syndications, M&A, FAR, Credit
and Legal.
Pictured
Back row (left to right):
Rod Flutchinson, Erik Heyl, Rashpal
Kaul, Ben Davies, Barry Leighton,
Sandy Wax.
Front row (left to right): Nick
Baikie, Marco Krapels, David Kane,
Alistair Mules.
Not pictured
David Sochon, Robert Flalcrow, Rick
Llewellyn, Marianne Schoemaker,
Jacques Bouwers, Brett Delfino,
Michael Landymore, Garyth Stone,
Elle Xu.
As the world's leading F&A bank, it made sense that Rabobank played a key role in one
of the United Kingdom's largest food deals ever. Already a sizeable manufacturer of well-
known British brands such as Branston and Oxo, Premier Foods' acquisition of RHM for
1.25 billion in March 2007 makes it the country's largest food producer and adds iconic
UK brands such as Hovis and Bisto to its portfolio.
Premier Foods wanted to raise 2.1 billion to finance the transaction. Six banks were
appointed to arrange the deal, with Rabobank selected as Mandated Lead Arranger,
Underwriter and Bookrunner. 'Since the acquisition was completed, the debt has been
sold down to the wider banking market,' explains Ben Davies, Managing Director and
Senior Banker of Relationship Management in London. 'Thirty banks have now become
involved in syndication with the deal heavily over-subscribed. In fact, the sell down was so
successful that Premier Foods was able to reduce the pricing of its debt (reverse flex) twice
- only the second time this has been done in the UK corporate market.This testifies to the
strength of the cliënt and the amount of liquidity in the market at present.'
Rabobank's Merger Acquisition department also conduded the sale of one of Premier
Foods' non-core businesses at the same time the acquisition closed. Subsequent to syndi
cation, Rabobank has designed and implemented an interest rate hedging strategy for the
cliënt.'Two years of hard work with the cliënt got us these leading roles,' says Davies.'But
that's not the end of the story. We are working closely with Premier on the next stage of the
evolution of its capital structure, which will hopefully lead to future lucrative business.'
