Goldman Sachs
It was not just the number of M&A transactions completed by Goldman Sachs that impressed the judges but also the breadth of business. In the past year, Goldman Sachs has advised on six of the 10 largest transactions announced and 92 of the 263 $1bn-plus deals announced, putting clear space between it and its closest rival. Notable transactions included advising Aventis on its $70bn sale to Sanofi-Synthelabo; Walt Disney on its successful defence from Comcast; and Bank of America on its $49bn acquisition of Fleet. Making this more impressive is a large number of complex cross-border deals, including Royal Bank of Scotland subsidiary Citizens’ $10.5bn cash acquisition of US bank Charter One, the largest all-cash bank deal in US history, as well as the largest all-cash deal by a European bank, and General Electric’s $10bn acquisition of Amersham Biosciences, the largest stock offering into the UK to date. Goldman Sachs’ Raid Defense Advisory, which uses financial instruments to protect investors and financial engineering to increase pressure on bidders, was an eye-catching innovation, strengthening the bank’s response to hostile and unsolicited bids. “Goldman Sachs has an extremely deep bench of M&A expertise and experience that, together with our industry group focus and other areas of expertise, allows a considerable amount of cross-fertilisation as ideas are exchanged. The drivers of our business have always been the creativity and thoughtfulness of our team,” says a Goldman Sachs executive.
