Goldman Sachs on asset hunt in Asia

[Ulhas Joglekar]

22 November 1999
Goldman Sachs on asset hunt in Asia
By Chris Johnson
BANGKOK: The US investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc is on a hunt for
undervalued and recyclable assets across Asia as it seeks to plant its
footprint in the region.
The president and managing director of Goldman Sachs (Asia), Richard Gnodde,
said on Friday his team would look at investments in high technology
companies, hotels and the financial sector where it thought management could
be improved or extra value squeezed out.
But the bank, which went public in a $3.7 billion stock offering in May, is
not about to turn itself into an electronics company or start running
hotels."We are interested in acquiring assets and seeking a good return--not
buying the entity," Gnodde said.
"But we can help strengthen the management team. Every investment is
different. There are clearly situations where we believe that returns can be
improved by helping the management do its job better," he said.
Goldman Sachs has spent huge sums in Asia over the last few years, mostly in
long-term investments and often in partnership with other companies with
particular expertise.
It has spent around $2 billion in Thailand alone in a range of industries,
notably in Thailand's Rajadamri Hotel, which runs Bangkok's five-star Regent
Hotel.
With GE Capital, it was also one of the biggest bidders in the public
auctions of assets from 56 defunct finance companies after they collapsed
during the financial crisis of 1997 and 1998.
Gnodde said the partnership with GE Capital would continue: "It has proven
successful and we would hope to extend that partnership in future."
He promised to continue investing in Thailand and the rest of the region if
it continued to recover from the recession that was sparked by the
devaluation of the Thai baht and other Asian currencies in 1997.
"We are building our franchise. We are building it as fast as it is
advisable so to do. We are going to continue to expand our footprint over
time," he said.
"The business is to acquire assets and recycle those assets."
Gnodde said Goldman Sachs had a team of 20 professional bankers in Hong Kong
looking constantly at investment options across Asia and another team in
Japan doing the same. They would invest where they saw valuable assets,
typically in blue chip companies.
Goldman Sachs would look at investing in companies where its experience in
enhancing shareholder value would be appreciated.(Reuters)

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