After a successful two years advising the firm’s clients on deals and boosting efficiency, Goldman Sachs in May named Kate Richdale co-head of its investment banking division in Asia ex-Japan.
Born and bred in Hong Kong, Richdale joined Goldman Sachs from Morgan Stanley as a partner in 2013 and thrived as a lateral hire, which is no easy task given the close-knit culture of the firm. She was helped, she said, by the right advice from other partners around the world who told her to come in quietly, do her best, and slowly mix.
Whilst helping to drive Goldman Sachs’s investment banking strategy — working out which clients to cover, improving the productivity of bankers and raising client efficiency — Richdale is still very involved in advising clients on deals.
In one instance showcased in the firm’s annual report, Richdale was part of the team supporting Cinven’s sale of PizzaExpress to Beijing’s Hony Capital for about £900 million. Goldman marketed PizzaExpress to investors worldwide and coordinated the financing that culminated in the placement of £610 million in senior notes.
She and her team also worked on Fosun International’s $1.2 billion accelerated top up placement in May and KKR’s $1.4 billion take-private of Goodpack.
Richdale joined Goldman Sachs as head of investment banking services for Asia ex-Japan, which was a good fit as it made effective use of her long-standing relationships across the region.
That’s after 13 years at Morgan Stanley, which culminated with her as Asia-Pacific head of investment banking.
Prior to that she held numerous other leadership roles at Morgan Stanley, including head of investment banking for South East Asia from 2003 to 2006.
Richdale, who is both a Mandarin and Cantonese speaker, has spent a lot of time in mainland China since joining Goldman Sachs.
Goldman led the ECM and M&A deal rankings for Asia ex-Japan as of mid-June.
Richdale, a mother of three daughters, is passionate about bringing on young talent, be it male or female. “There is a huge amount of training that goes on — all of this goes towards nurturing younger people into achieving a balance in their lives,” she said.
FinanceAsia’s 2015 honour roll of the most influential women in financial services across the Asia Pacific region spans investment and commercial bankers, private equity professionals as well as deal advisers among lawyers and accountants.
Published as a feature in the July / August 2015 print edition of FinanceAsia, the series also presents leading women in new areas of finance such as fintech where Asian companies are among the fastest-growing in the world and in areas of critical importance within banks such as traders and IT specialists.
We canvassed industry veterans to help us identify exceptional women working in Asia. In the process of researching this series we found evidence of progress in creating more diverse workplaces in the region.
