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London bankers' bonanza as Goldman names chosen(Evening Standard Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) LONDON bankers accounted for 29 of the 115 Goldman Sachs employees named as partners in the firm's biennial coronation to partner level - one of the most lucrative honours Wall Street has to offer. This year's intake will be an extra bumper year for the chosen with the investment bank earning $6.4 billion (GBP3.4 billion) in the first nine months of the year. Analysts are predicting full-year net profits of up to $9.1 billion, a rise of 62% from last year. Goldman bases around 4500 of its 25,600 staff worldwide in its City offices covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Among the new London partners are UK head of investment banking Julian Metherell and a number of his highflying corporate finance experts including Luca Ferrari, Simon Holden, Zubin Irani, Christoph Stanger, Neil Wright, Peter Selman, Jan Boomars and Tim Flynn. Although trading now accounts for the vast bulk of Goldman's revenues, a disproportionately high number of corporate financiers from the investment banking division were promoted. Many of the more profitable financing deals only come the bank's way via the client connections of Goldman's top investment bankers. Among the handful of star young traders making the London list are fixed-income dealer Samuel Wisnia, prime brokerage expert Puneet Malhi and distressed debt experts Simon Mansfield and Theodore "Ted" Sotir. Goldman's rapidly growing asset management arm promoted to partner its managing directors Mark Beveridge and Andrew Wilson. Others who made the elite list in London include Lorenzo Grabau, Casper Von Koskull, pan European strategist Peter Oppenheimer, Nick Burgin, Morgan Sze, Konstantinos Pantazopoulos and in-house spin doctor Lucas van Praag. "We congratulate all of those selected and wish them continued success in their careers," said chief executive Lloyd Blankfein and co-presidents Jon Winkelried and Gary Cohn. "These decisions are extremely difficult and we would like to acknowledge the contributions of those who were not selected this year. We are confident that many of them will be selected in the future." Although the title "partner" is largely ceremonial since the bank went public in 1999, it is much coveted, not least for the huge bonuses it will deliver to the chosen. The London intake this year are expected to reap on average an extra GBP5 million on top of their "ordinary" bonus, but with top performers earning more than GBP10 million Goldman has reserved $13.9 billion for 2006 bonuses. Net revenues are expected to tally more than $37 billion, meaning staff pay of around $17.5 billion, of which $3 billion could go to its global partners. Two of the biggest winners are expected be Michael Sherwood and Richard Gnodde, the European co-heads, who will reap the rewards for a year of big deals. City hot shots who join the magic circle JULIAN METHERELL is the rising star of Goldman Sachs' banking division in London. The ex-army officer is still in his 30s but now co-heads the UK investment banking arm. He has an expertise in company takeovers but will front client relationships for the bank's range of financial offerings. He had a spell in Goldman's New York headquarters, and is currently advising Talisman Energy Resources on its GBP1.2 billion offer for Paladin Energy. Tipped as a front runner to move rapidly up the hierarchy at Goldman, Metherell works closely with UK mergers and acquisitions head Simon Dingemans. The pair will be jostling for any promotions to European managing committees. LUCA FERRARI was a lowly vice president with expertise in telecoms and media deals five years ago. He has since been promoted up the director rankings and has added partner to his managing director status, making him one of the youngest highfliers in London for mergers and acquisitions on the hunt for the biggest European deals. Ferrari advised Spanish telecoms firm Telefonica last year on its GBP18 billion takeover of British mobile phone operator O2, while also acting for Cablecom on a takeover by Liberty Global, but he will turn his hand to other sectors, including insurance. ZUBIN IRANI was made co-head in Europe this August of the newly merged lending and advisory real estate business and has been quietly raking in the multibillion pound deals. This month an Iraniled team completed a 1.2 billion securitisation of properties let to German department store KarstadtQuelle while working on a separate 2 billion debt finance deal for a Spanish property firm. Irani started as chief financial officer of Goldman's property funds arm Whitehall, where he raised GBP16 billion of finance in seven years. In his new role he has been lead lender in 12 deals valued at GBP9.6 billion, compared with a target of GBP1 billion. Copyright 2006 Evening Standard. Source: Financial Times Information Limited - Europe Intelligence Wire. |