Mergers and acquisitions: Rabobank buys in Napa Valley

	Vini, vidi, vici: Rabobank joins the wine community

At the end of 2009, sources at Rabobank confirmed to Euromoney that the cooperative bank with a specialism in agriculture had been looking at potential acquisitions in the US. It had explored the possibility of picking up small community banks from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and had also been a buyer of loan portfolios from troubled US banks.

Last month, it joined the ranks of strong European banks acquiring in the US, behind BBVA, which acquired 162 branches and $12 billion of deposits last August when it picked up Guaranty Bank from the FDIC and ahead of such rivals as BNP Paribas which is still poring over possible targets.