L. Brooks Entwistle, MD & CEO of Goldman Sachs India, is one of the lucky few who rose to become a member of Goldman Sachs' Partner Class of 2008. Goldman on Wednesday named 94 executives globally as partners, which will make them eligible for a special bonus pool that has usually made its members as rich as the chief executives of its rivals.
Not sure whether the partners of 2008 will get to take home several millions of dollars in 2008-09 as the partners of the previous years did. In September, Goldman’s profits fell to 47 percent from last year’s record, to $4.4 billion.
Entwistle is one of the key Goldman executives who rose to partner's position this time, which signifies the importance the bank holding company is giving to the India market. Goldman has played key roles in deals like Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL)'s sale of its Indian operations, Hutchison Essar, to Vodafone. Goldman has also acquired a 5 per cent stake in National Stock Exchange (NSE) for about Rs 500 crore.
Goldman and Morgan Stanley had abandoned their investment banking business model and had become bank holding companies following the credit crisis that shooked the Wall Street.
The promotions to partnership is announced every two years. Last time, Goldman had elevated 115 executives to partner's role.
There are a couple of Indians too who have got selected into the elite club at Goldman. Devesh P Shah, who was elevated as a managing director in 2006, has been made a partner.
The other Indian who has become a partner this year is Ram K Sundaram. He had become a managing director in 2005.
Getting into Partner's class of 2008 is a big deal, as there are only 443 partners, while the firm employs about 32,500 employees as of Aug. 30.
See the list of partners .