Van der Sprong Laboratory
Jan van der Sprong
Sale of Laboratorium Van der Sprong to SGS Redwood Nederland
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more complicated than anticipated, and it became increasingly
frustrating. It was a game of catch-up every time SGS tabled
new issues.' Near the end of negotiations, Van der Sprong
turned to Rabobank for advice. The bank suggested Holland
Corporate Finance.
`Maarten Wolleswinkel and Hans van Ierland came for a look
the
very next day, just as SGS were waiting for our answer.
After no more than two hours, they told us to tell them no.'
They got straight to the point that they wanted to buy
the lab
This put the ball back in Van der Sprong's court. It was followed
by a three-year period during which three transactions took
place. First, the laboratory was sold at auction. SGS was the
buyer, but now at a much higher price than it had offered in the
firstround.`HollandCorporateFinanceallowedmetodetermine
theirfee,anamountbetweenthreeandfivepercentofpro-
ceeds.Ofcourseitwasfive,butIwasnevergiventhatkind
ofconditionagain.NotuntilmuchlaterdidIfindoutthishad
beentheirfirsttransaction.'Lateron,thesalesorganisationof
Florissant was bought back, and the new entity was resold a few
months later to Pokon & Chrysal. The total return on those trans-
actionswasfourtofivetimeshigherthantheinitialSGSoffer.
Upon uncorking a bottle of wine to celebrate his new business,
Jan van der Sprong was given one important piece of advice.
`Every now and then, think about the shape in which you would
want to leave your business behind, should that day ever come',
said an accountant friend who had helped him with his business
plan. `I took that advice to heart and have very consciously
worked towards that day from the very beginning', says Van der
Sprong more than 25 years later.
I could do a much better job; I am going to set up my
own laboratory
Presence of mind
Working as a researcher at Leiden University, it became clear
to him that his aspirations lay not in science. While visiting his
brother's snack factory, his eye fell on an analysis report from
a local lab. `They had done some bacteriological research into
croquettes and dispensed some advice about hygiene. When I
read that, I thought, `I could do a much better job; I'm going to
set up my own lab.' Actually, I never doubted for a second that
it would be a success if I seriously applied myself.' After only
onemeetingwiththelocalRabobank,financingwasafact.And
findingcustomerswasagiven.`AllofthecompaniesImentioned
in my business plan became clients, and on the day that I sold
up, they were still clients', Van der Sprong explains with pride. In
1992, the Flower Auction in Aalsmeer asked him if he could do
a `small job' for them. That ultimately resulted in two activities:
theproductionofafloweringretardantsforcutflowersunderthe
Florissant brand name, and the supervision of its use by
cultivators.
All in good time
Even though Van der Sprong had been working towards a
potential goodbye from the year dot, he was still surprised
when SGS, an international lab organisation, showed up to
talk about collaboration. `They did not beat about the bush:
they sought to buy the lab. Yet its sale turned out to be much
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