Truly independent.
Independent debt advice for companies that borrow at scale.
RV57 advises CFOs and Treasurers on refinancing, new bank facilities and acquisition financing — from the side of the table banks are not on.
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- €3bn+in facilities advised
- 30+years in corporate & investment banking
- 10mandates since 2023
- 4×mandates from the same client
Clients include BCD Travel, Theon International and Randstad — and, through Ernest Partners, Vandemoortele and Sonaca.
What we do
We advise on how to structure, arrange and negotiate your debt financing.
We do not lend, arrange or distribute any of it ourselves. We sit on your side of the table, from first conversation to signing.
Understand the need
What the business actually requires — operationally, not only financially.
Structure it
Translate that into terms financing parties can deliver.
Run the process
Every lender asked for the same thing, on the same terms. Proposals compared on structure, conditions and certainty — not margin alone.
Negotiate to signing
Pricing matters. So do covenants and conditions you can live with for the life of the loan.
Why debt has become harder to negotiate
Raising debt has become materially more complex than it was a decade ago. A facility that once meant three relationship banks and a single set of documents now means a wider group, each lender with its own credit appetite, sustainability requirements, reporting demands and internal approval path, and each willing to trade a different thing for a different concession. Those differences rarely surface in a term sheet. They surface in the covenants and conditions a company then lives with for the life of the loan.
Most CFOs and Treasurers rely heavily on their banks for financing, and banks bring genuine expertise. But a company negotiating a facility is negotiating with people who do this every day, backed by a credit process it cannot see. RV57’s role is to close that gap, so that the relationship stays a relationship and the negotiation is handled by someone whose only interest is your outcome.
When companies call us
Typical situations
- An existing syndicated loan or revolving credit facility (RCF) is approaching maturity and needs refinancing
- New bank financing is required for growth, capital expenditure or working capital
- An acquisition needs to be financed, and the debt package has to be structured and placed with the right lenders
- The bank group needs to change, whether adding, replacing or rebalancing lenders
- A bank proposal is on the table and the company wants an independent view on whether the terms are in line with the market
- Alternative or non-bank funding instruments are being considered
- Mid-sized and large corporates, listed and private
- Facilities from roughly €100m
- International operations, multi-bank groups
- Based in the Netherlands, active across Europe
- Full refinancing process or a focused second opinion
Track record
Ten mandates since 2023. Four from the same client.
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BCD Travel
Sole debt advisor on four successive mandates
- Refinancing of all debt facilities
- Refinancing of all debt facilities
- RfP process for refinancing of all debt facilities
- Extension option implemented in syndicated facilities
- Theon International Acquisition financing — sole debt advisor
- Vandemoortele Acquisition financing — sole senior debt advisor via Ernest Partners
- Sonaca Financing advice in M&A process — sole debt advisor via Ernest Partners
- Project Mercury Advising Works Council on acquisition financing
- Project Bear Refinancing syndicated loan and borrowing base facilities
- Randstad Exploration of alternative funding instrument — sole consultant
The Vandemoortele and Sonaca mandates were advised through Ernest Partners, the Belgian debt advisory boutique where Gerro Goedhuis has been Associate Partner since 2024.
In their words
What clients say worked.
We successfully refinanced our syndicated loan facilities with optimized terms and additional banks joining our syndicate… His deep understanding of lender dynamics and the syndicated loan market… made the entire process seamless. Gerro’s guidance led to outstanding results for BCD Travel, solidifying his role as an invaluable partner.
This was Theon’s first syndicated financing, and the step from bilateral bank lines to a group of nine was a large one for a company of our size. What Gerro brought was an understanding of how international lenders would see us before we approached them, and that shaped both who we went to and what we asked for. We would work with him again.
Gerro did not give us a view from the sidelines; he gathered relevant information in the market, from the parties that mattered, and combined it with our and his own experience. He also took a time-demanding piece of work off our hands at a very busy period. That combination — plus his own expertise, and knowing where to find the rest — is the valuable part.
Why independence matters
Advice you can take at face value.
RV57 has no lending book, no distribution to protect and no relationship to defend on the other side of the table. In practice that means five things.
We run the same process for every lender
All of them are asked for the same thing on the same terms, and proposals are compared on structure, conditions and certainty of execution rather than on headline margin alone.
We will tell you when no process is needed
When a bank proposal is already competitive, we say so. That answer costs us a mandate, and it is sometimes the right one.
We are paid by you and only by you
No arrangement fee, no retrocession, no economics of any kind from a lender in your transaction.
We have no preferred lenders
Which banks are approached depends on your transaction and your existing relationships, never on who sends work our way.
We take the friction, you keep the relationship
Your bank relationships are yours and they outlast any single transaction. Inside the process we are fully engaged, and where it helps we are the ones who press hardest on terms — so the uncomfortable conversation is ours to have rather than yours.
Who we are
A career inside the institutions companies negotiate with.
RV57 is run by Gerro Goedhuis, a loan banker with more than 30 years in international corporate and investment banking, from structured finance to syndicated loans. He ran ING’s corporate syndicated loan business across Western Europe and later led its corporate client coverage in fourteen countries. He knows how banks price, credit approve and behave under pressure — and the person you meet is the person who does the work.
The network, Ernest Partners, and why small is the point
Around RV57 sits an established network of independent specialists in financial analysis, treasury, corporate finance, M&A, export finance, working capital and law. Mandates are staffed to what they need and no more.
Since 2024 he has also been Associate Partner at Ernest Partners, a debt advisory boutique in Brussels. Belgian mandates are executed through that partnership, which gives RV57 a presence on the ground in a market where lender relationships are close and regional.
This is a deliberately small practice, and that is the point. There is no layer of analysts between you and the advice, no internal committee to consult and no queue to join, and we can be mobilised in days. On transactions where a few weeks can change the terms available, that is worth more than headcount.
Gerro Goedhuis
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