Business model

 

NIBC is streamlined around two strategic pillars – Merchant Banking and Specialised Finance – that work closely together. Indispensable to those pillars and to our entire business are Treasury, Risk Management and Corporate Center.

 

This streamlined structure enables us to concentrate on what we are good at.

 

 

Client teams deliver a wide range of customised products and integrated solutions to clients in all our Merchant Banking and Specialised Finance sectors, such as:

• Advisory services: M&A-related transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, disposals and buyouts; strategic advice for recapitalisation or financial restructurings; advice on access and distribution of debt and equity capital markets & products;
• Debt finance, leveraged finance, project and asset finance;
• Derivatives;
• Structured transactions via various risk transfer techniques;
• Growth capital via mezzanine and equity investments; and
• Investment funds that are open to third parties: funds have been developed in our areas of expertise, which are infrastructure, commercial real estate, private equity and mezzanine.

 

 

Merchant Banking

Through the Merchant Banking business, NIBC advises, finances, and co-invests with clients in the Benelux and Germany. We enable corporate clients, financial institutions, entrepreneurial investors and family offices to grow their business.

 

Our sector experts share ideas and market knowledge on specific sectors for the benefit of our clients. We focus on the following sectors in the Benelux and Germany:

• Food, Agri & Retail;
• Technology, Media & Services; and
• Manufacturing, Automotive & Industrials.

 

 

Specialised Finance

Specialised Finance combines NIBC’s expertise in specific asset classes with its balance sheet and capital markets capabilities to provide crystal-clear solutions to its clients. It focuses on asset and project financing in the following sectors:

• Shipping;
• Oil & Gas Services;
• Infrastructure & Renewables; and
• Commercial Real Estate.

 

Our retail markets activities consist of residential mortgage origination in the Netherlands and Germany through a number of distribution partners and our online retail savings programme, NIBC Direct.

 

 

Treasury, Risk Management and Corporate Center

Treasury works with both the Merchant Banking and Specialised Finance teams to find the optimal way of funding the bank’s assets and managing its interest rate position. In addition, Treasury works with the bank’s clients to find tailored solutions to manage their interest rate exposures.

 

Risk Management measures and manages financial risk on a bank-wide basis and is at the heart of our operations.

 

Corporate Center provides essential support in areas such as Finance & Tax, Legal & Compliance, IT & Operations, Human Resources and Corporate Communications.

 

 

Advisory Board, Beirat and non-executive vice-chairmen

To increase our focus on clients and market penetration, NIBC introduced the following new initiatives in 2009 and early 2010:

• Merchant Banking Advisory Board: this forum is composed of senior professionals with a strong track record and reputation and a large network. The members have experience and knowledge of the fields in which Merchant Banking is specialised;
• Beirat: in the German market, we have a similar body to the Merchant Banking Advisory Board; and
• Non-executive vice-chairmen: this position was created to help build in-depth relationships with our chosen clients. The vice-chairmen have years of experience, within banking and/or within industry and have strong networks and product knowledge, giving them access and influence at the highest levels of a client’s organisation. They will help NIBC to enhance its strategic and board-level discussions with clients, and to identify and assess client opportunities.

 

 

International offices

 

Our international offices are key links in our business chain. They draw on the expertise available throughout the organisation and apply it to the local markets of which they have first-hand knowledge. In addition to our headquarters in The Hague, NIBC has offices in Brussels, Frankfurt, London and Singapore. Our office in New York is a subsidiary of NIBC Holding N.V. (NIBC Holding). At the end of 2009, NIBC had 644 full-time equivalents (FTEs) and NIBC Holding 660 FTEs, of whom 119 worked at its international offices.

 

 

Brussels

NIBC has been active in Belgium, part of our home market, since 1998. NIBC Belgium has built long-term relationships with its clients by focusing on their financing, equity and M&A needs. Its clients comprise Belgian corporate clients as well as local and international investors.

 

 

Frankfurt

NIBC opened an office in Frankfurt in 2005, gaining a foothold in Europe’s largest economy. Our German operations focus in particular on debt, equity and advisory solutions for clients and on leveraged finance, commercial real estate and infrastructure/renewable energy - all sectors in which NIBC excels.

 

 

London

NIBC has maintained a presence in London, Europe’s financial capital, since 1995. The London office has a strong track record in infrastructure-related financing, infrastructure & renewable energy equity fund management, leveraged loan financing and credit management for our leveraged loan Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO).

 

 

Singapore

NIBC Singapore was set up in 1996. The Singapore office is a base from which we have built a position in the global transport (shipping and logistics), energy, and offshore oil and gas finance markets. A large share of NIBC’s overall exposure in the transportation, logistics and offshore oil and gas sectors originates from Asia.

 

 

New York

NIBC Holding has had an office in the US since 2002 and moved to New York in 2006. The New York office conducts structured credit asset management activities in the US residential and commercial mortgage sector.

 

 

Risk overview

 

Risk Management ensures we manage risks prudently and have a diversified risk portfolio. With an in-depth understanding of the business and its clients, Risk Management’s role is to prevent surprises by accurately assessing and controlling NIBC’s risk profile. It is well integrated into the business so that it fully comprehends the bank’s positions and products, and has a good dialogue with the front office.

 

Risk Management focused on three priorities in 2009. They were liquidity risk; asset quality and prudent new lending; and fundamental credit analysis.

 

Liquidity risk became the highest priority in terms of risk management. We successfully strove to increase our liquidity and assure our funding for the next years. The emphasis on liquidity risk highlights the re-sequencing of risk priorities triggered by the financial crisis.

 

We worked hard to ensure the quality of our assets, conducting a prudent assessment of risks before granting new lending and structuring loans in such a way that value can be preserved to the maximum extent. For NIBC as for our peers, impairments have been an inevitable by-product of the economic downturn, but credit losses can be contained by working closely with clients who have landed in distress and, together with them, working to limit any adverse effects.

 

We took a fundamental credit analysis approach to our structured credit portfolios. We brought NIBC’s risk management to a higher level by creating a dedicated financial markets credit risk department, tasked with covering the middle ground between market risk and credit risk. This department analyses our structured credit lending exposure, among other activities to control the credit risk emanating from our presence in financial markets.