Alejandro Friedli, Manager of Branches (41)
ex-HNS:
Pedro Toledo, Head of Deal ing Room (39)
ex-Rabo:
100% Rabo
Since the 1990s, Rabobank had been serving parts of Chile's
large agricultural sector with a representative office, and con-
ducting investment and trading operations from the capital
Santiago. But with impressive growth in the direct financing of
smaller farmers, it was feit that close and direct contact with local
clients would be gained from opening offices across the country.
Initially, the bank considered creating them itself.
Gieskes: "But we knew exactly what this would cost us. So then
we looked at take-over. In 2006, we made a few contacts, but
in the process we saw that not all banks matched Rabobank's
selection needs". They were all too large, too small or too special-
ised according to Gieskes. Then HNS Banco suddenly came into
the picture. It was rather special, he says. "HNS Banco provided
exactly what we were looking for. With a balance sheet total of
"Our most important change is the step from a small 'niche' bank to part of a
'Big Bank' with fewer restrictions with regards to the financial market. We used
to serve only medium-sized companies but now we have added corporate
and agro businesses to our world, it is a huge change that will impact pres-
ence and market share. The agro business is good for Chile, because no other
bank quite offers the same. We will focus efforts on differentiating ourselves
from others with this kind of product and this will have an impact on our
branches. We should doublé loans volume, our main source of growth. In
general terms the acquisition is enriching for both sides. HNS had what
Rabobank needed to grow locally, there was little duplication of functions,
and this has all created a very promising and positive day to day environment".
'The acquisition of HNS Bank will allow GFM to expand interest rate deriva-
tives and FX capabilities. For example, we already arranged a bond issue of
USD 100,000,000 in local currency with very positive results for the group.
We foresee other possibilities in cross selling with our retail network using
the Rabobank's know-how in the world of our agribusiness customers. We
will work together with our regional offices to extract value from the recent
developments. The HNS acquisition is a key part of that".
$300 miliion and a modest profït, things looked wonderful on
paper. We studied it all carefully; it had promise".
Originally a family-owned leasing and factoring organisation,
HNS Banco is actually only seven years old. After a merger with
Heller and the purchase of a 50% interest by General Electric,
management changed and the bank then began to generate
(and still generates) profits. Things seemed promising. "But when
we decided to make a full offer, we knew there were also uncer-
tain factors. Employees were not yet allowed to know for in-
stance. So our information was restricted to what was on paper".
Gieskes' Rabo team went to work. Annual accounts were clear
and positive. The 2500 (mainly small and medium-sized busi-
ISSUE15 WÜARY 2008 THE WORD 21
