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A Goldman Sachs banker who was grilled over his role in the disastrous sale of BHS nearly a decade ago has been promoted to run the Wall Street bank’s London operations.
Anthony Gutman, who was twice summoned by MPs to explain his role in the BHS sale, has been made the co-chief executive of Goldman Sachs International (GSI), the group’s branch based in London.
Mr Gutman, 50, appeared before a select committee in 2016 to answer questions about his role in the sale of BHS by Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia retail empire.
Sir Philip had sold the retailer for £1 to a group led by Dominic Chappell, a businessman who had been declared bankrupt three times.
The subsequent collapse of BHS, which led to the loss of 11,000 jobs, triggered a firestorm of controversy aimed at Sir Philip as well as an inquiry over a £571m black hole in the pension scheme.
Although Goldman Sachs turned down a role advising Sir Philip on the BHS sale because the deal was too small, Mr Gutman was put in the spotlight because of informal discussions between Sir Philip and the bank.
During his parliamentary testimony, Mr Gutman admitted he had passed on his “observations” about the sale of BHS to Paul Budge, Arcadia’s finance director, and had told the group there were risks around Mr Chappell’s proposal.
The incident did little to slow his rise in the City of London.
Deals he worked on last year include the £5.8bn sale of FTSE 100 giant DS Smith and advising Aviva on its recent £3.7bn takeover of Direct Line.
Goldman’s role in the latter deal raised eyebrows because the bank had been a longstanding adviser to Direct Line before switching sides to work for Aviva.
Mr Gutman will share responsibilities for running the GSI business with Kunal Shah, 41, a trader who rose through Goldman’s emerging markets division.
Both men will replace Richard Gnodde, 64, who will become a vice chairman at the bank.
Mr Gnodde has been running GSI since 2006 and shared responsibility as co-chief executive for a decade with former trader Michael Sherwood.
Mr Sherwood, who also faced a grilling over his links to the BHS sale, left the bank in 2016.
The shake-up in the UK is part of a broader reshuffle across the bank.