Goldman Sachs
| Also shortlisted in this category: |
Twelve months ago, at our summer party to celebrate the Awards for Excellence 2006, Euromoney sat down with the head of M&A at one of the bulge-bracket investment banks. The conversation soon turned to the hot controversy of the year: the extent to which perennial M&A league table leader Goldman Sachs was threatening its client franchise by growing its private equity business to the point that corporate clients were wondering whether, if they asked the firm in to advise on a takeover defence, Goldman might end up buying them itself. "Make no mistake," the banker reflected over his second glass of wine, "however much the rest of us criticize them for what they have done, every one of us, every other investment bank, will be beefing up its private equity operation next year. We’ll all be going down that same private equity path, it’s just a question of how far and how fast."
This year, Goldman Sachs wins the Euromoney award for excellence as the world’s best M&A firm. Competitors still hint that Goldman’s largest and most sophisticated corporate clients are growing increasingly disillusioned with the inherent conflict of interest in taking strategic advice from a potential principal competitor.