Brooks Entwistle, a Goldman Sachs partner and chairman of the bank’s Southeast Asia business, will retire at the end of this year, according to an internal memo. Like many other partners who retire after a long career with Goldman, he will continue to work with the firm as an advisory director.
Entwistle joined Goldman Sachs in 1989 and except for a short break from the investment banking industry in the early 1990s, he has been with the firm for 20 years.
Among his many achievements Entwistle is credited with the establishment of Goldman’s on-the-ground franchise in India after the firm decided to part ways with its joint venture partner Kotak Mahindra. Having relocated to Mumbai and assumed the role of country head of India in 2006, he built a competitive business in what the memo refers to as “one of Goldman Sachs’s most important growth market locations.”
In March 2011 he moved to Singapore to become chairman of Southeast Asia as well as head of investment banking for that same region. In the latter role he replaced David Ryan who had been promoted to co-head of investment banking for Asia ex-Japan almost a year earlier. Ryan became sole head in February 2011 and has since moved on to become president of Goldman’s operations in the region.
However, Entwistle dropped the investment banking title in July this year when the firm announced that Steven Barg and Hsin Yue Yong would take over as co-heads of investment banking for Southeast Asia. According to a source at the bank, Entwistle hasn’t been particularly involved with the investment banking side of the business since then, although he has been coordinating efforts with Barg and Yong to drive the investment banking business as part of the wider regional strategy.
Entwistle’s retirement comes at a time when Goldman is trimming its global partnership pool as part of its efforts to cut costs. According to a Bloomberg story published last week, 33 people listed as partners in an official filing in February were no longer on the list in a filing made on November 2. Two new names, including Mark Schwartz who was re-hired in June as chairman for Asia-Pacific, had been added, resulting in a net decline of 31 partners during the past nine months. Most of these were in the US, which is also where most of Goldman’s partners are based.
As of November 2, the firm had a total of 407 partners. Goldman is due to announce this week who has made partners this year.
Entwistle was named managing director in 2003 and a partner in 2008. As an advisory director he will still receive a salary from Goldman, although he can be expected to take a sizeable pay cut.
Entwistle’s first job with Goldman back in 1989 was as an analyst in the investment banking department (IBD) in New York. After a few years, he took time out to work as a United Nations election officer in Cambodia and to complete business school. He rejoined the firm in 1995.
Entwistle first worked in Asia in 1991, when Goldman employed only 35 people in Asia ex-Japan. He returned again in 1998 to co-found the high-technology group within IBD and later served as the region’s chief operating officer.
According to the memo, Entwistle’s “leadership and vision have been critical to driving the firm’s strategy and footprint in [India and Southeast Asia]”. It continued: “He has built strong relationships with many of the firm’s clients and regulators and has led a number of important transactions… He has also helped to recruit, mentor and develop many of our people in Asia-Pacific and to connect them with the firm’s values.”
