TerraProtein Equity Partners boosts leadership team

Former Rabobank agri-banker Marijn Hendrickx has joined TerraProtein Equity Partners (TerraProtein) as Director, boosting the boutique investment firm’s leadership team and furthering its ties to the global food and agribusiness market.

Hendrickx brings with him a wealth of experience in corporate banking after more than a decade in European and Asian-focused roles with the world’s largest agricultural lender, Rabobank.

Most recently Hendrickx worked in the capital structuring team at Rabobank’s head office in Utrecht, where he primarily advised European large corporates on capital structure in strategic events.

Previously, Hendrickx worked as a relationship manager overseeing large corporate in-bound customers at Rabobank Shanghai. He has experience in selling on- and offshore RMB and foreign currency working capital and term loan lending products, IRS- and FX hedging products, and on structured products such as export financing, supplier finance, receivable purchase facilities, and excess cash solutions.

With Rabobank’s position as one of the largest food and agricultural banks in the world, Hendrickx primarily managed key relationships with multinational companies in China active in growth sectors as animal protein, dairy and quick serve restaurants.

Hendrickx enjoys taking an entrepreneurial approach when it comes to corporate agriculture and says joining TerraProtein Equity Partners has been “a natural fit”.

“For me, being more hands-on with companies in the sector is what I like, so being able to really help them grow – to develop further beyond their capital structure alone – by adopting a more entrepreneurial role, is where I get a lot of energy,” Hendrickx says.  

 “We have a great team at TerraProtein who all have their own niche in agribusiness and finance, along with their global footprint, so we can bring a lot of different perspectives to the table.”

Born and raised in the Netherlands, Hendrickx more or less ‘fell’ into agribusiness banking when he was awarded a traineeship with Rabobank in 2009. After establishing his foundation as a credit analyst in Utrecht within the food and agri large corporate lending team, he progressed to work with large scale animal protein and food retail businesses by supporting them through (acquisition) financing and developing appropriate debt solutions and capital structures for further growth.

“Agriculture is a no nonsense business,” Hendrickx says.  

“It seems simple from the outside, but when you look at most agricultural enterprises, they require a certain type of expertise and understanding due to their complexity.

“If you consider the value chain from farm to fork, these [agricultural] enterprises have complex capital structures, governance, suppliers, and so forth. This is why I like the food and agri sector because you come across very unique business models with unique market positions, trade relationships, and subsequently growth opportunities.”

TerraProtein Equity Partners – an agricultural advisory and investment firm established in 2014 – aligns investors with leading agricultural businesses, fostering long-term partnerships that enable growth opportunities in food and agriculture around the world.

Hendrickx is based in TerraProtein Equity Partners’ Amsterdam office and focuses on developing further the business in Europe while continuing to apply his global agri knowledge to other projects as well.

 “It is such an exciting time to work in this industry, especially now given our generation's challenge to produce much more food with less resources. This dynamic attracts new companies that develop new exciting technologies that in turn attracts new investors,” he says.

“Although ag-tech can seem like a ‘buzzword’, in my experience even in existing value chains, tremendous opportunities exist to improve efficiencies with technology.”

Hendrickx is currently working on projects in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa, advising companies on M&As, refinancing, capital restructuring and assisting them in raising growth capital.

He says, “There are many different angles we can bring to our clients which is a strong point of TerraProtein Equity Partners and this makes it an exciting company to work for”.

TerraProtein Equity Partners is excited to have Hendrickx joining the team and looks forward to using his experience to further develop business across the globe.