goldman distressed debt

Reported $500m income last year.

http://www.xak.com/main/newsshow.asp?id=68920

New head is Steve McGuinness, nice guy. Looks like a firefighter.

PaulAllen, do you know if the group is in the bigger Special Situations Group?

It is.

Thanks. Isn't the SSG the top group in GS? What's the turnover in the group? And if somebody does leave, why would he/she leave the group for a 2nd tier bank?

PaulAllen - correct me if I'm wrong here (since you seem to know SSG quite well), but I believe Goldman's SSG group includes a pretty wide variety of fairly large sub-groups (e.g., GS's SLG group), so it's not really a "group" at the bank in any traditional sense.

I realize it's like comparing apples and oranges - but in terms of selectivity as it relates to being the "top" group, I would think GS TMT would be a more likely candidate.

How does 1 even get into SSG? Do they take any summer analysts? I know they are under general GS securities and mixed in with mortgage finance... say someone gets accepted into the Mortgage/Distressed Investing Group, is there any chacne at all they could go into SSG?

SSG is separate from distressed debt investing, though of course it invests in distressed as well. distressed debt bank loan is part of distressed debt, but focuses more on illiquid assets

Which of the groups do you think more makes money for Goldman? A fees business or prop trading. If you think the former, you don't know how Goldman operates. Even though GS TMT is a wet dream for people on this board, if you have aspirations to start your own hedge fund - GSPS/SSG/GSCI are the way to go.

For more details on McGoldrick's departure, check out this WSJ Article entitled "Why $70 Million Wasn't Enough" (login required)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118740076313301636.html

The guy sounds insane. Excerpt:
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In 2002, when Mr. Briger joined Fortress Investment Group LLC, an alternative-asset manager, Mr. McGoldrick began frequently working 21-hour days and traveling three weeks each month. He typically would land in Hong Kong at 11 p.m., and go home to work. It would be noon in New York, so he'd participate in three hours of conference calls to review the credit and asset value of U.S. partnerships under consideration. At 3 a.m. Hong Kong time, he'd go to bed until 6 a.m., when he'd rise to review the unit's Asian investments and markets.

By lunchtime, he would turn his attention to his 50-member staff in Europe. He then would be back on the phone with New York to review risks of the latest daily deal cycle.

To reduce his schedule, Mr. McGoldrick switched time zones by moving with his family to London a few years ago...
---

Bad fucking ass.

They do. They had a posting at Penn and I know someone interviewing with them.

The point of my post was to address the fact that GS SSG is not exactly the wet dream opportunity that people on this board make it out to be. It's a great group, don't get me wrong, but it's also an enormous one with multiple offices across the country - some of the deals they do may well be exciting, but a significant portion of their transactions aren't that dissimilar from what you'd see in the fixed income trading units at other BBs. During 2007, my fund did two deals with them that were comprised of nothing more then their buying up some very senior tranches of secured debt that resided near the top of our deals' capital structures - not exactly the most exotic of investment strategies.

I was making the point that in terms of selectivity (i.e., spots per applicant), GS TMT is more selective.

I think it also has to do with the fact you get to have a business card that says you work in the "Special Situations Group". That just SOUNDS badass, like, when the world is coming to an end, lets call in the real gangsters.

I don't know why, but a part of me feels sorry for the guy.

I feel more sorry for his family...

I'm amazed he still has a family, but moving to London at least shows some effort.

I looked at it the opposite way...when work moved him to Hong Kong, he dragged them there. When he realized he could work more effectively in London, they moved there. Moving often can be rough on a family, especially moving halfway around the world each time.

and, btw, my "badass" assessment wasn't quite right....I think "hardcore" was more the word I was looking for.

What do GSPS and GSCI stand for?

You're dreaming if you think TMT is more selective than the New York office of SSG. From what I have been told, SSG consistently takes top bucket bankers (and some random undergraduates) from TMT. In many ways, SSG is the wet dream of TMT bankers (or some of them).

To some extent having "Special Situations" in your job title on your business card just seems like you delude others into thinking your job is more badass than typical finance.

If SSG is some kind of prop trading group as it's referred to here, why do they take analysts from top IBD groups (like TMT) and not from S&T? Am I missing something?

How does FICC fit it with SSG?

A school alumni came from GS SSG to speak. Ridiculous story: Started GS IBD FIG after undergrad, moved in third year to GS SSG (PIA, then Fixed Income Division) and made MD of AmSSG and Co-head of Canadian SSG by age 29. Really nice guy too.

It doesn't fit, but I assumed the S&T career path was for the best traders to move up to prop trading later on.

Sounds baller. By the way, what school?

AmSSG is the flagship prop desk in FICC.
GSPS is the flagship prop desk in Equities.

It is very difficult to go from flow trading -> AmSSG. You simply don't have the valuation background necessary, hence a large number come from IBD backgrounds.

Do GSPS and PIA draw heavily from IBD the way SSG does?

If having a valuation background is important, would starting out in equity research be more helpful than S&T?

Do people in S&T even have any exit options to anything?

Thanks.

Does anyone know where McGoldrick graduated from and where he started his career? I could not find info on him.

Ken Moelis' son is an SA this summer in the SSG group, you prob gotta know people or be pretty damn good

GS hires internally from the IBD group. folks are picked up from throughout IBD, with a good number of analysts/associates coming from lev fin/sponsors. to get in is not so much about following a specific path, but having the right skills (valuation/modeling), networking, and simply kicking ass in the group that you are currently assigned to.... if you are doing well, it's easier to get noticed and picked up/recommended for principal roles.