Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is to double its Israel staff, Bloomberg reports as both a rebuilding effort and a growth push.
Noting that Goldman Sachs was the top adviser on the large number of Israeli initial public offerings in the US in 2021, Bloomberg said that the Wall Street firm plans to double its Israel staff to around 30, by adding five people to the investment banking division and expanding its asset management and private wealth teams in Tel Aviv.
Since the recent diplomatic breakthrough that fostered ties between Israel and four Muslim-majority countries including the United Arab Emirates, Goldman Sachs has worked to drum up business for Israeli companies in the Gulf and touts the prospect of investments by the region's wealth funds, Jonathan Penkin, Goldman's new head of investment banking in Israel, told "Bloomberg."
In addition to its expansion in Israel, Bloomberg said that Goldman Sachs is also contending with the recent exits of Sarel Eldor and Danny Akerman, two senior bankers who left to start up their own investment fund.
"In a sense, we are rebuilding part of our operations here post the departures of what were important colleagues," Penkin told Bloomberg.
Goldman Sachs, which held on to the top spot in dealmaking globally in 2021, saw its revenue in Israel reach the most ever not just in investment banking but also for asset management, Penkin said.
Penkin added, "The level of activity at the moment is off the charts."