Goldman’s secondary advisory head departs

The head of Goldman Sachs‘s secondary advisory has departed the firm, less than 18 months after joining.

Alex Mejia is going to mid-market investment bank Baird to lead the buildout of a secondary advisory team, according to six sources with knowledge of the matter. Baird confirmed that he will start after a period of gardening leave.

Mejia joined Goldman as a managing director in May last year to work on single- and double-asset continuation fund deals, after five-and-a-half years at Lazard, affiliate title Secondaries Investor reported. He brought across Spencer Gyory from Lazard and Josef Menasche from Campbell Lutyens as vice-presidents.

Goldman had dabbled in the secondary advisory business prior to Mejia’s arrival. In 2020, it co-advised on a single-asset deal centered on Thomas H Lee Partners’ portfolio company HighTower Advisors. It advised alongside Evercore to avoid a conflict of interest with Goldman’s Vintage secondaries business, which led the deal on the buy-side.

“The secondary advisory market continues to be a key area of focus for Goldman and under my continued leadership, we anticipate growing our capabilities in this space and continuing to provide a differentiated service offering that leverages the full breadth of our leading investment banking franchise,” said David Kamo, partner at the firm, in a statement.

Secondaries Investor reported in June 2021 that Baird had formed a capital advisory team whose mandate included secondaries. Gavin Kolt, a 10-year veteran of Moelis & Company, joined as head of equity capital advisory alongside head of debt capital advisory Anne-Marie Peterson.

The Milwaukee-headquartered bank advises corporations, entrepreneurs, private equity and venture capital firms across M&A, debt and equity. It is one of several mid-market banks to enter the secondary advisory space in the past 18 months, including William Blair, Raymond James and DC Advisory, Secondaries Investor has reported.