Dave Sandor has joined Goldman Sachs as an executive director working on equity-linked products with a focus on origination and execution of convertible bonds in Asia ex-Japan, a source close to the matter told FinanceAsia on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the US investment bank confirmed the appoinment.
Prior to making the move to Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, Sandor spent nearly five years with Morgan Stanley in the banking centre as an executive director in charge of equity-linked transactions in Asia. He joined Morgan Stanley in April 2010 and left the firm in February this year.
Sandor also did a brief stint as a director with Standard Chartered’s convertible bond team from autumn 2009 to spring 2010. He joined Standard Chartered from Citigroup’s Asia-Pacific equity-linked origination team.
Goldman Sachs declined comment on Sandor's reporting lines.
Goldman Sachs has been operating its equity-linked desk without a director-level banker and most origination and execution work has been divided between the corporate finance and equity capital markets team in the interim period, the source said.
Despite the vacancy the bank has executed a number of substantial convertible bond transactions in recent years, mostly on behalf of Chinese clients. Goldman was one of the joint bookrunners on Ping An Insurance’s $4.3 billion jumbo offering in 2013, the second biggest onshore convertible bond deal after Bank of China’s $5.9 billion CB in 2010.
The Wall Street bank also priced two onshore deals late last year - China Molybdenum’s $799 million A-share CB in November 2014, followed by Shenzhen-listed communication device manufacturer GoerTek’s $408 million offering in December.
Leveraging on its client network in the US, Goldman Sachs also managed to price a number of CBs for Chinese firms listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. It was involved in Sina’s $800 million recap CB in November 2013, VIPShop’s $821 million dual-tranche CB and follow-on offering in March 2014, as well as Qunar’s $825 million private CB and follow-on transaction in June this year.
Goldman Sachs originates and executes CBs issued by US-listed Chinese firms from its Asia desk, a person familiar with the matter said.
Goldman Sachs ranked second in Asia ex-Japan equity-linked league tables last year on six deals executed, trailing Credit Suisse on 15 deals, according to data provider Dealogic. It came third in 2013 behind JPMorgan and UBS.
