Frankfurt a. M. — Goldman Sachs promotes Frankfurt-based Managing Director Tobias Köster, photo (45) to Partner. Koster’s promotion to the top management of the U.S. investment bank is to be completed in early January. Alongside Germany head Wolfgang Fink and Alexander Mayer, Köster thus becomes the third Goldman Sachs partner in Frankfurt. With Kösters’ promotion, the Americans are strengthening a business area in which Goldman is outpacing the competition this year.
The investment banker brings many years of experience in advising private equity investors. He currently leads Goldman’s business with PE investors and their portfolio companies in German-speaking countries. — In total, Goldman Sachs promoted five employees in European investment banking to the partner circle at the turn of the year. The fact that four of the five new European partners come from the private equity business reflects the great success Goldman is currently enjoying in this area of consulting. This is particularly true for Europe. Goldman has never done as much business with financial investors here as it has in the current year, a bank spokeswoman explained.
Goldman Sachs promoted 69 employees to partners, which is the smallest number in the past two decades. This means that the total number of partners in the Group remains below 500.
After studying economics in Freiburg and Basel, Köster began his career in 1998 as an analyst at the investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston in Frankfurt. Just one year later, he moved to the M&A and corporate finance division of Goldman Sachs. Five years later, he moved to New York to join the leveraged finance division of the US investment bank. In 2006, he returned to Germany, where he continued to work in leveraged finance until 2008. In 2008, he was appointed Managing Director.