Goldman Sachs has appointed Dominique Jooris and Jonny Fine as co-heads of a combined financial institutions group (FIG) debt capital markets/hybrid capital team within its financing group. This development marks a shift in gear for the US investment bank which has not been a serious player in the European FIG hybrid sector for approximately five years, that being when the last M&A wave hit the financial sector.
Back then Goldman was on the lead of almost all the European jumbo hybrid financings, many of which were linked to this M&A activity. In addition to advising on M&A, the investment bankers also won the mandates for the associated financings. At that point Goldman had one of the leading bank capital structuring teams and came up with some highly innovative capital-raising solutions, including the financing package for Royal Bank of Scotland’s purchase of NatWest alongside Merrill Lynch. In the intervening years, however, the European FIG hybrid business has not been a focus. M&A is firmly back on the agenda in the banking and insurance sector, a fact that will not have escaped Goldman’s bankers.
“We want to emphasize how important the FIG business is for us.