Corporate Finance
In the new setupour
whole approach is more
customer oriented and
less product focus ed.
Puil has replaced push'
Uphill battle
Pim Mol:
Marin Boon
Pim Mol
in their life cycle and understanding markets in economie up- and
downturns is essential. Because of our regular contacts with clients,
we can analyse how their needs might develop in changing market
conditions and use those insights to discuss product development
with our colleagues at Rl. In this cooperative model we can all do
what we excel at."
At Rabobank Rotterdam, meanwhile, managing director Christian
Mol shares his opinion on cooperative commerce. "From the
perspective of the member banks in the Netherlands, Rabobank
International is a supporting organisation that helps us deal with
corporate clients. There is a similar structure in place that assists us
When dealing with small and large corporate clients, the
member banks are backed-up by regional teams and a central
team in Utrecht, led by Marin Boon. "We are the stepping
stone between corporate finance within Rl and the member
banks. Our regional investment managers are involved in
buyouts and buyins, corporate acquisitions, share transfers and
recapitalisations. There are another eight people in our project
finance team, and they focus on renewable energy and large
scale green house financing. Both groups workforthe member
banks. We receive management accounts from all the compa-
nies we're involved with. My team is responsible for managing
the portfolio and steering it through economie ups and downs,
together with the member banks and (if necessary) with the
special credit department in Utrecht. That triangle is important.
Last year we began visiting every member bank that has one
of our portfolio companies on their books, to discuss develop-
ments and progress."
In most of the cases the corporate finance team gets involved
in the acquisition of new clients at an early stage, as it has the
connections with private equity parties and they are seen as
the centre of competence for these types of financing, explains
Boon. "Every lead is matched with the member banks. When
we identify a prospect, we contact the local member bank via
the regional teams. Sometimes it turns out that our prospect is
alreadya cliënt."
ISSUE 23 MAY 2010 Rl .WORLD 37
