Steven Barg, a partner at Goldman Sachs in Singapore, is heading to a new position in New York after less than a year in his role as co-head of investment banking for Southeast Asia.
The move, announced in an internal memo sent on Friday, comes just a week after the bank hired Morgan Stanley’s Kate Richdale, a senior investment banker with strong relationships in Singapore.
The timing of the announcements created the impression that Barg is the second Goldman partner making way for Richdale — after Tim Leissner last week gave up his title as head of investment banking services.
However, the timing is a coincidence, according to sources at Goldman, who deny that Richdale is replacing Barg and stress that her role as head of investment banking services is a much broader regional position.
Even so, the strength of Richdale’s contacts in Southeast Asia would likely have created some overlap with Barg, who had only been in the job since July last year. His relocation to New York avoids that possibility.
Barg’s co-head, Hsin Yue Yong, will now continue as the sole head of investment banking for Southeast Asia.
Goldman has been keen to build its business in Southeast Asia as a counterweight to the slowdown in China, which has stopped churning out a regular supply of huge initial public offerings.
Barg is transferring to New York to become head of M&A capital markets, a new role that involves working with clients “on the equity market implications of strategic activities”, according to the memo. He will relocate in early April.
Before moving to Singapore in 2012, Barg was co-head of Asia ex-Japan equity capital markets, based in Hong Kong. He joined as a partner in 2010 from UBS, where he was head of Asian global capital markets. He also worked for UBS in New York, and for Credit Suisse in New York and London.
