Wells Fargo industrials banker to join Goldman’s mid-market group

Wells Fargo industrials banker Casey Rentch joined Goldman Sachs as the bank seeks to capture a larger share of the middle-market advisory and financing market.

Rentch, who spent 14 years at Wells Fargo, will join Goldman Sachs next week as a managing director focused on the industrial sector, out of Atlanta. He will be part of the bank’s Cross Markets Group (CMG), an advisory unit dedicated to deals with enterprise value of $500 million to $2 billion.

Nearly 60 percent of CMG business is driven by private equity activity, David Friedland, global head of M&A for the Cross Markets Group at Goldman, told Buyouts in a recent interview.

Rentch is one of eight incoming managing directors to join the bank before the end of the year. Goldman Sachs is set to have other MDs joining from Barclays, Piper Jaffray, Lincoln International and Rothschild, Friedland said.

“These are people with existing relationships—not the great athletes that we thought we could train to do this; they are already great athletes who have relationships and been doing this for 20 years or so,” Friedland said.

In total, Goldman plans to have more than 100 investment bankers in the Cross Markets Group before the end of the year, Friedland said. Some will join from boutiques and direct competitors, while others will be realigned to CMG internally, he said.

The bank will continue its hiring spree next year as well, Friedland said.

Wells Fargo spokeswoman confirmed that Casey Rentch is no longer with the firm and declined to comment further. Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

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