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| 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.
Rabobank’s was a small deal. It announced its intention to buy Napa Community Bank, a $163 million full-service community bank, which has enjoyed seven years of profits since it was founded in 2002. Rabobank already covers more than 100 locations in California and has $10 billion of assets there. It will pay $25 million in cash and other contingent considerations to acquire the bank and use it to expand its $500 million portfolio of loans to wineries and other agribusinesses in the Napa Valley.
