If its is equity financing, debt raising or strategic acquisition advice, Goldman has truly become the one stop shop for Asia's blue-chip companies when they are looking for financial services. But it is not just big, easy deals that investors will lap up anyway. When key decision makers have to decide who they will entrust with a difficult but crucial deal, it is Goldman to which many turn. It is significant that in one of the hottest mandate chases of the year, for Chunghwa Telecom one of Asia's last great privatizations the Taiwanese government decided that Goldman was to have the global coordinator role. It is a fact that Asian governments trust Goldman with their key privatizations.
China is an instructive case.
In both the telecom and oil industries, Goldman was selected to take the first major companies to the equity markets. In terms of telecom, that was China Mobile and in the oil industry, PetroChina. That Goldman got the deal done, and that it was one of the best performing for investors in the subsequent six months, is a testament to the institutional power of Goldman, regardless of the execution hurdles that had to be crossed. Goldman, with its towering presence in the eight floors beneath Li-ka Shing's office in Hong Kong, has 1,379 people in Asia, which includes 155 investment banking professionals in Singapore, Taipei, Seoul, as well as Hong Kong. It has successfully re-built its franchise and this year the firm came of age in Asia.