Goldman Sachs beefs up private equity

Goldman Sachs is moving John Waldron from New York to London to co-head its private equity division with Richard Campell-Breeden.

Waldron is set to take up the post on April 1 in a move seen as an attempt to bolster the bank’s financial sponsors’ corporate finance division.

Waldron joined Goldman Sachs in 2000 as a vice president in TMT and he became co-head of leveraged finance in 2005. One of his main clients is US private equity outfit Bain Capital. Waldron worked closely with Bain Capital on its acquisition of Brenntag, the German distributor of chemicals in 2004, when Bain agreed to acquire the Brenntag Group together with the Interfer Stahl steel group for €1.4bn. He later worked on the sale of the business to London-based private equity firm BC Partners for around €3bn in July of last year.

Goldman Sachs is currently advising Alliance Boots on a bid approach from US private equity firm KKR. Along with Lazard, Goldman is also advising the private equity consortium — KKR, Blackstone, TPG, and CVC Capital – on its £10bn possible offer for UK supermarket J Sainsbury.