Goldman's Steven Barg heads to Singapore

On Friday, Goldman Sachs announced that Steven Barg will relocate to Singapore to become co-head of investment banking for Southeast Asia, together with Hsin Yue Yong.

Before his new role, Barg was co-head of equity capital markets (ECM) for Asia ex-Japan, alongside Jonathan Penkin. His relocation is part of an effort by Goldman to strengthen its business in Southeast Asia, a region that has been getting more attention since the slowdown in China.

Across the street, investment banks are vying to win business in Southeast Asia’s biggest market, Indonesia, which traditionally has been dominated by Credit Suisse. But there are also opportunities elsewhere in the region. Singapore continues to churn out deals that warrant close attention and Malaysia has produced two of the world’s biggest initial public offerings this year.

Barg and Yong will coordinate efforts with Brooks Entwistle, who is chairman of Southeast Asia, “to drive the [investment banking] business as part of the wider regional strategy”, according to an internal memo that FinanceAsia has seen.

Sources at Goldman say Barg has integrated well within the firm’s culture since he joined from UBS in 2010. Indeed, he has been on several landmark deals, including Mapletree Commercial Trust’s Singapore $718 million IPO in April 2011, the $2.1 billion Prada IPO in June 2011 and HK Telecom Trust’s $1.2 billion IPO last November. More recently, he worked on Philippine property developer Ayala Land’s $323 million top-up placement.

Goldman’s top executives in Asia right now all come from an ECM background, so not having co-heads running equities isn’t going to harm the firm. There’s ample talent. And given the slow deal flow at the moment, re-concentrating strengths to where there may be growth seems like a sensible move.