Pitch Best Young M&A Advisor 2021: Tom de Ruiter, ABN AMRO
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Company: ABN AMRO Bank
Job Description: Associate Director Corporate Finance
Age: 31
What are the specialties of this talent?
Tom is a truly intrinsically motived M&A specialist, striking a balance between sharp eye for detail and practical hands-on mentality to get challenging projects for our clients to completion. With his high energy, enthusiasm and can-do mentality, Tom is a very valuable member of the Diversified Industrials & Business Services Corporate Finance team. He considers M&A advisory a true team sport and very much enjoys working together with his direct colleagues, his clients, but also other advisors and stakeholders that are passionate about their work and aim for the best result. Tom is characterized by his team members as a great team player, dedicated, structured and a very amicable and honest person who will always go the extra mile. That probably explains why he is keen to train for and race Ironman triathlons or marathons. One of Tom’s greatest drivers is the opportunity to work on challenging assignments where he and his team mates really can make a difference for their clients. In particular working with founders/owners on the sale of their life’s work brings a special touch to a deal and allows Tom to really connect with his clients and provide them with tailormade advise and support. In recent years, Tom has worked on a variety of high profile transactions and origination efforts, for example as an adviser to ConDoor Door Solutions in the sale to Quva, as an adviser on the sale of Solid Optics to Halo Technology, but also on the recent IPO of hGears in Germany.
How does the talent distinguish itself from its peers?
Tom’s sharp mind allows him to quickly analyse and process difficult tasks. During project execution, clients typically turn to Tomas he is truly on top of things, easy to communicate with and puts their interests first. The same goes for internal workstreams related to pitches or RfPs, where Tom assumes responsibility and generates momentum around allocating the right resources to get the job done on time and well above expectations. Such thorough preparation obviously also stands out when presenting his work to clients, who quickly recognize his qualities and give Tom their trust in return.
What impact does the talent have within the organization?
Tom is a real ABN AMRO minded colleague. Since the start of his career at ABN AMRO he has demonstrated to be a highly motivated, hard-working and focused professional. His colleagues love to work with him and really see him as a team player. Tom has served both Dutch and international clients throughout his entire career and has built a strong network into our commercial and private banking organization. With Tom being so passionate about his work, he also is very motivated to share his knowledge with others and support trainees and other colleagues in getting the best out of their own talents. He is patient and supportive to others and always available to listen or exchange views.
What impact does the talent have outside the organization?
Tom is a real ambassador for the M&A profession and despite being a modest guy really connects with people outside the bank and capable of building a strong network of clients and advisers across various sub-sectors or disciplines. We are very happy to have him on the team and are very grateful for him to represent ABN AMRO on important cases.
To what extent does the talent make the difference to clients?
Through his disarming appearance and highly professional approach, Tom is able to gain the trust of his clients and build strong relationships with them. Combined with his analytical capabilities, attention to detail and excellent communication skills, Tom is a perfect counterpart for our clients. A great example where Tom really made a difference to clients was his lead role in the sale of Solid Optics, where Tom was able to build a trusted relationship with the owner and create a strong collaboration with the other advisers involved.
Why does the talent deserve this nomination?
Tom consistently ranks at the top of best-performing talents in our Corporate Finance department, and is a great example of a next generation M&A specialist. He is capable of blending the traditional M&A financial advisory skill set with an open-minded, informal and non-hierarchal approach to interacting with colleagues and clients. This allows him to smoothly navigate throughout our organisation, creating a dense network of supporters for our discipline as well as building strong and lasting relationships with his clients and advisors or stakeholders from other disciplines. In addition, this nomination also is about Tom’s successful contribution to a long list of M&A advisory assignments that he helped win, and close deals for our clients, resulting in Tom becoming an all-round M&A banker with a high profile track record. Some of his recent deals include the sale of ConDoor Door Solutions to Quva, the sale of Solid Optics to Halo Technology, the sale of TReNT Glasvezel to Alliander, the IPO of hGears or the acquisition of Dutch Cabin Group by Adapteo as well as a number of pending projects that are expected to be announced shortly. Over the last 6 years, Tom has shown a very consistent top performance and has not only impressed our Corporate Finance department, but more importantly our clients and colleagues from other departments. ABN AMRO Corporate Finance is very proud and keen to nominate Tom de Ruiter for the 2021 Young M&A Talent award.
