Telegraph | Money | Hank spanks the Goldman raiders

Telegraph | Money | Hank spanks the Goldman raiders: "Hank spanks the Goldman raiders
(Filed: 23/04/2006)

The US bank has raised eyebrows with its taste for aggressive approaches. Iain Dey reports on how its CEO is trying to square a corporate circle


Marcus Agius, the chair-man of BAA, sat with Mike Clasper, the airport operator's chief executive, and Margaret Ewing, the group finance director, awaiting the arrival of a team from Goldman Sachs. It was Valentine's Day and they had just got wind of a potential bid from Ferrovial, the Spanish construction giant. Goldman was one of five banks that had been asked to pitch for the defence brief, alongside BAA's existing adviser, NM Rothschild.
Four other investment banks - JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, UBS and Morgan Stanley - had all run through possible ways to create value by breaking up bits of the company and gearing up the balance sheet to hand cash back to shareholders.
But when the Goldman team walked into the boardroom at BAA's headquarters in Victoria, its approach was different, according to sources close to the deal. Simon Dingemans, one of Goldman's senior merger and acquisition advisers, was leading the pitch. After running through his plans for a defence strategy, he introduced Bill Young, a Goldman infrastructure banker.
Dingemans and Young went on to explain that one option was for Goldman itself to buy a chunk of BAA. They suggested that the bank could refinance the business by acquiring a significant stake and bringing new investors in. To BAA that sounded like the beginnings of a takeover.
Defence had turned to attack in one swift, unconventional move.
Agius remained po-faced as he asked Goldman to leave and told Dingemans he "