Goldman Sachs wants to buy full control

Goldman Sachs Group, which has held a minority stake in its Australasian business since 2003, is in talks to buy full control of the operations.

The New York-based firm, which owns 45 per cent of Goldman Sachs & Partners Australia, has been in discussions for several months about buying the remaining shares from local partners.

The Australian venture's sale of most of its private client business in 2009 made a full takeover more attractive to Goldman Sachs, a source that wished to remain anonymous said.

Goldman Sachs & Partners, with offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland, was Australia's fifth-ranked arranger of mergers and acquisitions last year, trailing top-placed UBS AG.

In 2003, Goldman Sachs agreed to buy 45 per cent of JBWere, Australia's biggest closely held brokerage at the time, in a deal that left some Goldman Sachs and JBWere workers owning 55 per cent of the company.

There are now about 130 equity-owning employees in Australia and New Zealand. Goldman Sachs has been in Australia since 1987.

The Australian newspaper, which reported the talks yesterday along with the Australian Financial Review, said 75 per cent of those partners would need to back any deal.

The Australian said the unit may have a book value of as much as A$1.2 billion ($1.6 billion).

The Australian business has been moving closer to its New York-based shareholder in recent years.

Last August, the unit changed its name from Goldman Sachs JBWere.

That followed the sale in 2009 of 80 per cent of its private client business to National Australia Bank and the rights to the JBWere name.

- Bloomberg