이 기사는 2020년 01월 03일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Goldman Sachs has topped South Korea’s M&A financial advisory league table for 2019, thanks to big deals it worked on during the year. It was the first time that Goldman Sachs topped Korea’s league table since data began to be compiled by the bell in 2010.

Goldman Sachs climbed to the top position in the M&A league table for financial advisory, working on seven deals worth 6.37 trillion won ($5.5 billion) in 2019, according to figures from the bell’s league tables compiled based on closed deals.

Goldman cemented its leading position, with more than one-trillion won margin from Morgan Stanley, which came to second. This is a big jump from its performance in 2018, when the investment bank’s ranking plunged to 22nd.

Goldman Sachs mainly provided sell-side financial advisory services in the Korean M&A market. But in 2019, the bank also provided buy-side advisory, helping U.S.-based Blackstone Group to acquire Geo-Young, Korea’s wholesale drug distributor, for 1.1 trillion won ($945 million).

One of the biggest transactions Goldman advised on in 2019 was KCC-led consortium's purchase of U.S. silicones maker Momentive Performance Materials for 3.5 trillion won ($3 billion), in a deal where the bank served as co-financial advisor to Momentive together with Moelis & Company. The deal was announced in the fall of 2018, but it took almost nine months for the deal to close due to regulatory approval issues.

Among other deals Goldman worked on in the first half was the Woongjin Coway deal, where the bank helped MBK Partners sell the water and air purifier maker back to Woongjin Group’s education service unit Woongjin Thinkbig for 1.685 trillion won ($1.45 billion). Goldman, together with Deutsche Bank, also served as co-financial advisor to German industrial gases group Linde, in a transaction where Linde sold its Korean assets to Korea’s home-grown IMM Private Equity for 1.3 trillion won ($1.15 billion).

In the second half, Goldman helped Unison Capital complete the sale of its bubble tea chain Gong Cha to U.S. private equity firm TA Associates for 350 billion won ($302 million). Goldman also acted as financial advisor to CJ Hello, which was acquired by LG Uplus for 800 billion won ($690 million) in a deal that completed last December.

Goldman is expected to continue to be active in the Korea’s M&A market in 2020.

The bank is currently serving as co-financial advisor to Germany’s Delivery Hero, which last month announced its plan to acquire Woowa Brothers, the operator of Korea’s number one food delivery app Baedal Minjok, for about 4.8 trillion won ($4 billion). Whether the deal could complete in 2020 or not seems to be subject to approval from 2020 upon approval from Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC).

Goldman Sachs is also acting as financial counsel to U.S-based Prudential Financial, which recently put its Korean unit up for sale. The price tag is expected to more than two trillion won ($1.7 billion).

(By reporter Rho Ar-rum)