- Goldman Sachs Chief Financial Officer Stephen Scherr announced recently that the company is “very open” to making acquisitions
Goldman Sachs Chief Financial Officer Stephen Scherr announced recently that the company is “very open” to acquisitions. The company is especially open to acquisitions that would speed up the growth of Goldman Sachs’ existing operations.
“We’re very open to the proposition of acquisitions that fill gaps or accelerate elements of our growth plan,” said Scherr on a conference call and webcast via Reuters.
Many analysts have been expecting Goldman Sachs to pursue more aggressive deals just like its rivals have done over the past year. For example, Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley announced last month it was buying E*TRADE for $13 billion. And in November, Charles Schwab unveiled a deal to buy TD Ameritrade for $26 billion.
Goldman Chief Executive David M. Solomon indicated that the company has major plans to improve upon the company’s wealth management division in order to depend less on revenue from trading. Plus the company has ambitious goals for its online consumer bank called Marcus. Analysts are expecting that making a deal would make this happen faster.
Scherr pointed out that Goldman Sachs is not looking to do “larger material transactions” in the near-term.
“I think you’ll find us to be much more acquisitive in the context of accelerating and facilitating the growth of business initiatives that are there, none of which would necessarily present themselves as… material to the firm,” added Scherr.
How is coronavirus affecting Goldman Sachs? Goldman Sachs does not have any known cases of coronavirus among its staff. But the company is taking precautions by splitting up its team across separate locations. And some staff will be working from home.
