Goldman Sachs Names New Leaders of Global M&A Unit

(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is shuffling the top ranks of its mergers and acquisitions department, appointing Stephan Feldgoise and Mark Sorrell as co-heads of its global M&A practice.

They are taking over from Michael Carr, Dusty Philip and Gilberto Pozzi, who will become co-chairs of the bank’s global M&A unit, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg. The trio join Tim Ingrassia and Gene Sykes in that role.

Feldgoise, formerly co-head of M&A for the Americas, will continue his job as global head of consumer and retail. Sorrell, who previously led M&A in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will continue as co-head of Goldman Sachs’s U.K. investment banking business and become a member of the division’s executive committee.

A representative for Goldman Sachs confirmed the contents of the memo.

“Stephan and Mark will focus on continuing to drive our leading global merger market share position, advising on important strategic and policy initiatives and further strengthening and developing our global team,” Goldman Sachs investment banking co-heads Gregg Lemkau and Dan Dees said in the memo.

The move to promote Carr, Philip, and Pozzi is consistent with Goldman Sachs’s practice of placing top bankers in roles where they can dedicate time to clients rather than management. The trio led Goldman Sachs’s work on 2020’s largest deal: advising SoftBank Group Corp. in its $40 billion agreement last week to sell chip designer Arm Ltd. to Nvidia Corp. They also advised insurer Willis Towers Watson Plc on its $31.5 billion agreement to merge with Aon Plc in March.

Since Carr and Pozzi became co-heads of global M&A in 2015, the bank has missed out on the No. 1 spot as global M&A adviser just once, to Morgan Stanley in 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Although deal activity has crept up since July, volumes are down almost 40% globally so far this year, after corporate executives retreated to the sidelines amid the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic.

Carr, a member of the investment banking division’s executive committee, joined Goldman Sachs as a partner in 1998 from Salomon Smith Barney. Pozzi joined the bank in 1995 and also serves on its European management committee. Philip became co-head of global M&A in 2018, after joining the bank in 1991 and becoming partner in 2000.

“These positions will give them a broader and deeper scope with clients, enabling them to provide critical advisory work and drive execution on important M&A transactions,” Lemkau and Dees said.

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