Goldman Sachs Looks to Double Size of Private Credit Unit

Goldman Sachs is reportedly aiming to double the size of its $110 billion private credit business.

That shift involves reshuffling senior executives in the unit, Marc Nachmann, global head of asset and wealth management, told Bloomberg News on Monday (Dec. 11).

“We think it’s the biggest opportunity set across the alternative space,” he said.

The reshuffle will move the bank’s co-president of alternatives, Greg Olafson to the role of global head of private credit, Bloomberg said, citing an internal bank memo. Another executive, James Reynolds, will become Goldman’s global head of direct lending, while Kevin Sterling — who runs private credit operations with Reynolds — becomes global head for investment-grade private credit and asset finance. 

The Bloomberg report said Goldman has traditionally been ahead of other big banks in the $1.6 trillion private credit market and is unique for having a private credit operation that predates the 2008 financial meltdown. 

Monday’s report follows another Bloomberg report from earlier this year that Wall Street banks such as Goldman and JPMorgan Chase were in talks with private debt funds about the possibility of engaging in secondary market transactions.

JPMorgan had reportedly witnessed an uptick in interest in the idea among its client base, leading the county’s biggest bank to use its own balance sheet to create markets.

This year has also seen Goldman Sachs’ continuing move from the consumer lending space, with news breaking last month that the bank was apparently planning to terminate its credit card partnership with General Motors. 

Goldman purchased the card business from GM in 2020 for around $2.5 billion as the two companies — as noted here at the time — were in pursuit of the idea of the car becoming a hub for mobile eCommerce.

It is also one of several big banks that has this year been ramping up its efforts to cater to its wealthiest clients.

“The expansion of these business units has been driven by the increasing wealth of the world’s richest people, the challenges they face as investors dealing with rising interest rates and inflation, and the growing tendency of wealthy families to become more sophisticated in how they manage their wealth,” PYMNTS wrote in May.