By Abigail Summerville
Jan 21 ((Reuters)) - Goldman Sachs has elevated top consumer retail banker Ben Frost to chairman of investment banking, according to an internal memo, after leading the bank's work
on two of the biggest deals in the sector last year.
Frost, who joined Goldman in 2018, was most recently co-head of the global consumer and retail group. Cosmo Roe and Milan Hasecic will run that group as Goldman's new global co-heads, according to a separate memo, the contents of which were confirmed by Goldman. Both memos were sent Wednesday.
Goldman has been the top global consumer and retail M&A franchise for the last five years, according to data compiled by LSEG. Last year, the bank advised Kenvue on its nearly $50 billion acquisition by Kimberly-Clark, and private equity firm Sycamore Partners in its roughly $24 billion purchase of Walgreens Boots Alliance.
Frost, who joined the firm as a partner in 2018, will continue to focus on the consumer and retail sectors while expanding his portfolio to include a broader range of client responsibilities across the franchise.
"In the five years he has served as co-head of the global Consumer & Retail Group, Ben has driven the commercial expansion of our franchise and set new standards of client service and excellence for our teams globally," the memo said.
Roe joined Goldman as an associate in 2007 and moved up the ranks to become the global head of luxury and beauty and the global head of consumer technology.
Hasecic joined the bank in 2017 as a managing director and is currently head of the consumer retail group in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
"Their combined expertise and leadership will be instrumental in maintaining our market-leading franchise and in guiding the group towards continued growth and innovation," the memo said.
(Reporting by Abigail Summerville in New York. Editing by Dawn Kopecki and Nick Zieminski)
