A QUESTION
OF THE DEEPEST
TRUST
COOPERATION PAYS OFF
The Nutreco team
Rabo Securities team
What: Takeover of Maple Leaf Animal Nutrition by Nutreco
The takeover of Maple Leaf Animal Nutrition
by Nutreco was a transaction that Rabobank
Securities - exclusive financial advisor to
Nutreco Holding - recently guided to its suc-
cessful conclusion. Managing director Steven
Spiekhout: "The North American animal feed
industry is by far the largest in the world and
Nutreco has had the ambition for some time
now of extending its presence in the sector.
We had been informed of this strategy as we
had been discussing possible takeover can-
didates with Nutreco for some time. When
Emma Cardy Brown of Food&Agri Research
discovered that Maple Leaf Animal Nutrition
was about to be put into the shop window,
she quickly let us know. Maple Leaf is Cana
da's leading supplier of animal feedstuffs
with a national market share of no less than
20%. We then studied the proposition with
Nutreco using our colleagues in Canada and
our M&A team in New York - these guys
know the North American market like no
other. Together with this team, we prepared
a pitch and presented it to the Nutreco
board".
The takeover proved to match the growth
objectives of Nutreco's core activities perfect-
ly. Spiekhout: 'This company takeover fitted
seamlessly in their acquisition strategy. For
some years now, Nutreco has been acquiring
feed and premix operations and divesting
their meat and fish production interests. For
perfectly logical reasons, Maple Leaf Animal
Nutrition was actually doing the opposite,
choosing to focus precisely on meat and fish
production. The companies complement
each quite remarkably".
At a controlled auction organised by a Cana-
dian bank, Nutreco bought in and the take
over contract was able to be signed. Looking
back at the process, Spiekhout can identify a
number of success factors. "In the first place,
we had a well-trained and experienced cross
border team and could interact quickly and
effectively. We had a lot of the right sort of
information and were dealing with a cliënt
who was truly dedicated to the takeover plan.
Personal connections, of course, also played
a key role. Peter Greenberg, General Manager
of our Canadian office, was a personal friend
of a young member of the McCain family.
And the McCain family I should add - known
widely for its frozen chips - is one of the main
shareholders in Maple Leaf. And now add
to this the fact that one of the directors of
Nutreco had worked for McCain for 15 years.
Connections we had, and they unquestion-
ably did the deal little harm. While Canadians
work very professionally, takeovers are always
a question of the deepest trust".
ISSUE 15 JANUAR-I 2008 THE WORD 1 5
Rabo Canada:
Peter Greenberg (Flead Corporate Banking),
Andrew Chewpa (M&A Canada)
Rabo New York M&A:
Chris Nolan, Andrew Cooper, Truman Lam
and Emmanuel Durand
Rabo Securities:
Steven Spiekhout, Mare Staal and Matthijs Dekker
Food&Agri Research:
Emma Cardy Brown
