Some new jobs at Goldman to start: While Wall Street processes how Goldman Sachs created a 39-person management committee, the bank unveiled new roles that include tapping Mark Sorrell as global head of industrials, and Andre Kelleners and Anna Skoglund as co-heads of European investment banking, according to memos seen by DD.
In today’s newsletter:
Davos reaches ‘peak pessimism’ on Europe
At Davos this week — the glitzy annual gathering of corporate chieftains and global policymakers hosted by the World Economic Forum — many of the hallmarks that attendees have come to expect were present.
There were celebrity sightings (David Beckham and Fernando Alonso), chief executives of the world’s biggest banks (Jamie Dimon and Brian Moynihan) and impressive musical acts (Wyclef Jean and Aloe Blacc).
Of course there were also flutes filled with Dom Pérignon and glasses of Super Tuscans.
But the startling thing at this year’s Davos wasn’t in fact physically present, but instead more than 6,000km away: the changing of power at the White House earlier this week, and the ways that Donald Trump has already blusteringly begun to reshape the world order.
Davos is supposed to be a bright spot for corporate Europe.
While the world’s economic engines lie elsewhere — primarily in the US and corners of Asia — the conference has been the one time a year the continent can reliably convene power-wielders from all over.
Yet this year, that too, felt weaker. As Davos began to the usual fanfare, the entire show was in Washington. Trump’s long-feared “America first” policies had officially made it to the foothills of the Swiss Alps.
One litmus of how much Trump’s inauguration dominated Davos were the topics of conversation that attendees gravitated to again and again. Case in point: there was a fixation on Trump and first lady Melania Trump’s memecoins.
One big Silicon Valley investor called Tesla boss Elon Musk and Trump “the new Crassus and Caesar” — referring to the Roman political figures who formed an alliance to further their own interests.
Aside from the US’s dominance, it doesn’t help that Europe’s had a tough year.
France and Germany have suffered political crises; European banks fear they could become targets if they don’t consolidate themselves; and European asset managers are desperately fighting to keep up with American rivals.
When it comes to the UK, dealmakers were happy that the chair of the Competition and Markets Authority had been ousted, but they were still sceptical that it could spur economic growth.
Meanwhile, chancellor Rachel Reeves was there on a charm offensive. Her goal was to convince big investors otherwise, hosting meetings with business leaders and making public appearances. (The jury’s still out on whether those overtures worked.)
All the while, the threat of US tariffs on Europe compounded the worries of executives and politicians. They wondered whether a rising US economic tide would radiate across the Atlantic.
An executive at a major US bank warned of “peak pessimism” about the continent.
Even Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, said it was “not pessimistic” to say that Europe was facing an “existential crisis”.
The panels and parties at Davos get press every year, but the meetings behind closed doors are where the action is, as corporate chieftains advance megamergers or lobby regulators.
In the coming months, expect the outcome of the real conversations at Davos to offer a read on whether Europe can react decisively to Trump.
Troubles for real estate tycoon René Benko
Signa Group was once a real estate empire that inspired an equal measure of envy and suspicion across Europe as its Austrian founder, René Benko, positioned himself as one of the continent’s pre-eminent dealmakers.
It owned stakes in trophy properties such as London’s Selfridges and New York’s Chrysler Building, and at its height, the conglomerate estimated its real estate assets to be worth €28bn.
Over two decades, Benko built an empire that started with unglamorous apartments in Innsbruck and became one of Europe’s biggest property investors. Benko liked to joke that only the Pope and the British monarchy had better buildings.
But there was more to the story behind Benko’s debt-fuelled colossus.
Signa collapsed two years ago, leaving a maze of financial problems for creditors and regulators to pore over. The FT’s Sam Jones took it upon himself to boil down Signa’s byzantine 1,000 corporate entities into a fun interactive.
But for Benko, the troubles haven’t ended.
On Thursday, he was arrested as Vienna’s criminal prosecutors accused him of making inaccurate statements during the insolvency proceedings of his Signa property holding in an attempt to embezzle assets.
Prosecutors were concerned that he might tamper with evidence or commit further crimes, and they also accused him of forging a document.
Other European officials are also after him.
In an unrelated investigation, Italian police in December issued an arrest warrant for Benko over alleged improprieties with his business, and Viennese criminal prosecutors disclosed that they had teamed up with prosecutors in Berlin and Munich to speed up cross-border investigations.
A central piece of the prosecutors’ allegations is that Benko was the ultimate beneficial owner of a family foundation that is named after his daughter Laura.
Last year, the FT reported that a Signa Group company transferred more than €300mn to two entities controlled by that foundation before the insolvency. Prosecutors allege he didn’t disclose his control over the entity during the insolvency proceedings.
There’s also another potential foundation — and of course, a villa — involved.
Benko is accused of selling Villa Eden Gardone, a luxurious mansion by Lake Garda in Italy, to a Liechtenstein-based foundation in a fake transaction that prosecutors see as potential embezzlement.
A lawyer for Benko did not immediately respond to an FT request for comment.
Job moves
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BDT & MSD has hired Todd Ladda as a partner and head of global capital solutions. He was previously a managing director at Fortress Investment Group.
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Microsoft’s ventures head Chris Young is leaving the business in March after nearly four years overseeing its venture capital arm, according to SEC filings. He was previously chief executive of McAfee.
Smart reads
Wego-no Investors are losing their appetite for the obesity trade, the FT reports. The sector has been knocked by disappointing sales, an unexpected trial result and questions about the size of the market.
Everything coach Career break? Co-parenting? Burnout? There’s a booming market for ever-more-specialised life guides for when things get tricky, Bloomberg writes.
Davos dispatch For Harper’s Magazine, Caitlín Doherty ventured to the Swiss gathering with a mission: “I wanted to see whether globalisation was dying, dead, or might yet recover from the blow delivered to it by a concatenation of historical events.”
News round-up
German election frontrunner warns of ‘great risk’ for companies investing in China (FT)
Barclays plans overhaul of CEO CS Venkatakrishnan’s pay (FT)
Purdue and Sackler family agree to $7.4bn opioid settlement with US states (FT)
UK approaches potential administrators for Thames Water (FT)
JPMorgan lifts chief executive Jamie Dimon’s pay by 8% to $39mn (FT)
EQT exits jump to €11bn in sign of private equity recovery (FT)
HSBC shuts payments app Zing a year after launch (FT)
Daniel Ek’s Neko raises $260mn in push to be Apple of healthcare (FT)
Read the full article here