Goldman Sachs names banker Todd Leland as Asia investment banking head

Goldman Sachs Group Inc has named veteran banker Todd Leland as its investment banking head for Asia Pacific excluding Japan, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, adding to leadership changes at the bank with CEO David Solomon taking over this month.

Leland, an American who joined Goldman in 1992, will replace Andrea Vella and Kate Richdale who were appointed co-heads of the unit in 2015.

Vella and Richdale will remain in the region to become the co-chairs of the unit, said the memo sent to the bank staff and seen by Reuters on Monday.

Leland was named a co-president of the bank for Asia Pacific excluding Japan in September last year, a designation that he will retain, the memo said. He had previously worked in London for 10 years.

A Goldman spokesman in Hong Kong confirmed the content of the memo.

Leland takes over at a time when China's aggressive outbound push for mergers and acquisitions has slowed this year amid an escalating trade war with the United States, and weaker markets are expected to weigh on the appetite for new equity offerings.

In the first nine months of 2018, Goldman's revenue in Asia, which is smallest of its three regions, rose 9 per cent to $3.9 billion. Asia's share of group sales fell by 1 percentage point to 14 per cent in that period, its filings showed.

Richdale, a fluent Mandarin speaker with experience in Southeast Asian dealmaking, joined Goldman from Morgan Stanley in March 2013.

Before taking over the Asia leadership role, Vella had been co-head of the financing group in the region since January 2014.

Prior to that, he was head of credit capital markets in Asia excluding Japan.

In a separate memo, Goldman also announced that Raghav Maliah, its head of the technology, media and telecom group in Asia Pacific excluding Japan, will become global vice-chairman of the investment banking division.

Among other executive changes since Solomon was named the group chief executive, Goldman last month named Dan Dees, who heads the technology, media and telecom investment banking group globally, as investment banking co-chief.

Dees will share his new title with Gregg Lemkau and Marc Nachmann.

Dees's promotion came about a week after Goldman elevated former investment banking co-head John Waldron to president and chief operating officer and named Stephen Scherr as its new finance chief.