OREANDA-NEWS. July 07, 2016. Rabobank and Kepler Cheuvreux announce they have entered into a strategic partnership that significantly enhances Rabobank’s Equity Capital Markets (ECM) offering in the Benelux, Europe and the US. The investment ensures Rabobank’s corporate clients can benefit from better ECM and brokerage services as well as greater scale and scope. Together Rabobank and Kepler Cheuvreux will be the number 1 equity brokerage house in the Benelux and the thought leader in Food & Agri research. Kepler Cheuvreux is Europe’s leading independent broker.

This strategic partnership has been designed to combine Rabobank’s banking and ECM relationships with Kepler Cheuvreux’s research expertise and distribution reach. The partnership provides Rabobank’s listed clients with better access to the investor community. Rabobank will participate in Kepler Cheuvreux’s innovative ECM partnership model. This will link the corporate clients of Rabobank to over 1,200 institutional investors that are serviced by Kepler Cheuvreux through its 115 sales managers and sales traders, working from a multi-local network of 13 offices in 10 countries.

The partnership offers the broadest research coverage of European stocks, with 90 analysts covering 700 companies across 32 industry sectors. The combined businesses will have the largest research coverage of Dutch equities. The combination of Rabobank’s Food & Agri sector research and Kepler Cheuvreux’s Food & Agri stock coverage means that the partnership will be the global reference for the Food & Agri sector. A further strength of the partnership is that Kepler Cheuvreux’s equity research analyzes companies from a European and sector perspective next to analyzing the local Benelux drivers.

Based in Utrecht, Rabobank’s ECM team will leverage the Kepler Cheuvreux sales, sales trading and research team based in Amsterdam and its multi-local network in Europe and US. Kepler Cheuvreux has been present in Amsterdam since 2001.

Greater corporate brokerage service
Rabobank’s corporate brokerage clients will be able to benefit from Kepler Cheuvreux’s strength in this area as it is the largest corporate broker in Continental Europe. Amongst the capabilities that clients will be able to make use of are the enhanced roadshow and conference capabilities, continuity of share buy-back programs and acquisition or disposal of shares.
Rabobank’s commitment to the enhanced ECM offering is reflected in its investment in a 5% equity stake in Kepler Cheuvreux and representation in its leadership through a board seat.

The ECM Partnership model of Kepler Cheuvreux is tried & tested and has proven to be successful in the partnerships with UniCredit (since 2011) and Cr?dit Agricole CIB (since 2013). Both UniCredit and Cr?dit Agricole CIB are among leaders in IPO issuance in Italy and Germany and France.

Jan van Nieuwenhuizen, Member of the Executive Board of Rabobank says: “Excellent client service is our strategic goal. With this partnership we are convinced we can achieve this in the area of Equity Capital Markets. To make this happen, we believe Kepler Cheuvreux is the ideal partner, as they truly enhance our offering. Kepler Cheuvreux has an outstanding reputation as a global, independent equity broker with excellent research and distribution capabilities. With this global platform we can better serve our clients in the Netherlands as well as our global Food & Agri clients.”

Laurent Quirin, CEO of Kepler Cheuvreux, adds: “We are proud to create such an important alliance with one of Europe’s leading banks. This is another strategic move to build upon our position as the leading independent broker firm in Europe. Our multi-local network fits very well with Rabobank’s local approach to be close to its clients. Together with Rabobank, we are the number one player in cash equities in the Benelux market, which is an excellent platform for further growth. I am very pleased we can also welcome Rabobank as a shareholder and in our leadership.”