Goldman Sachs has appointed heavy-hitter Richard Campbell-Breeden chairman of its mergers and acquisitions group in Asia-Pacific ex-Japan, according to an internal memo seen by FinanceAsia.
Campbell-Breeden, who is also made vice-chairman of investment banking for the region along with Tim Leissner, is being replaced as head of M&A in Asia ex-Japan by John Kim, Goldman Sachs' current co-country head of Korea.
In his newly created role, which is effective immediately, Campbell-Breeden will continue to provide strategic advice to the bank’s clients across the region, liaising with Kim, who will relocate from Seoul to Hong Kong in July and become chairman of Korea investment banking.
“[Kim] will work closely together with [Campbell-Breeden] to lead this important franchise, which is core to our investment banking business,” the memo said.
Campbell-Breeden has been Goldman Sachs' head of M&A in Asia ex-Japan since 2009 and head of M&A in Asia-Pacific ex-Japan since 2011, having joined Goldman Sachs in 1989 and moved to Asia in 2008 to co-head M&A.
He was previously co-head of Goldman Sachs' European financial sponsors group and co-head of UK investment banking. He was named a managing director in 1998 and a partner in 2000.
Goldman Sachs ranked second in the Dealogic Asia-Pacific ex-Japan league table for M&A in 2011, the year Campbell-Breeden took the reins as M&A head for the region.
The bank finished first in 2012, third in 2013, and currently sits top of the table for the year-to-date period, advising on 31 deals worth $5.4 billion in fees. Among the deals it has had a hand in are Hutchison's $5.7 billion sale of a 25% stake in AS Watson to Temasek, OCBC's $5 billion offer to acquire Wing Hang Bank and Lenovo's $2.3 billion acquisition of IBM's x86 server business.
Korea
Kim joined Goldman Sachs in 2000. He was named a managing director in 2005 and a partner in 2012. He will be replaced in Seoul by David Chung and Dongsuk Choi, who have been named co-heads of Korea investment banking.
Chung has been responsible for financial institutions in South Korea and has also been head of insurance sector coverage in Asia-Pacific ex-Japan. He is also responsible for investment banking relationships with key clients in the country.
He joined Goldman Sachs in 1999 and was named a managing director in 2008.
Choi has been responsible for covering key clients in South Korea and also for Korean M&A; he joined Goldman Sachs in 2002 and was named a managing director in 2010.
“Together with [Kim], they will leverage their significant client relationships in Korea as well as their expertise in the core strategic advisory and financing products to further drive and expand the success of our regional franchise,” the memo said.
Meanwhile, Christos Tomaras, who looks after European financial sponsors M&A, will relocate from London to Hong Kong to join the Asia ex-Japan M&A Group. Tomaras joined Goldman Sachs in 1998 and was named a managing director in 2010.
In Goldman Sachs’ other key markets; Yongzhi Jiang in Beijing, Ruben Bhagobati in Singapore, Nick Sims in Melbourne and Andrew Huang in Hong Kong will all continue their respective M&A duties.
