Goldman Sachs hires Evercore executive for secondary advisory

Goldman Sachs’ secondary advisory group is gradually building up its team, as it has won some recent mandates.

Goldman told staff today that it is hiring Nicholas Gleize as a senior vice-president on the advisory team. Gleize is joining from Evercore, where he has worked as a vice-president on the secondary advisory team, sources told affiliate title Buyouts.

The appointment comes as movement around the secondaries advisory world has slowed after a series of relocations over the past year. Market activity has been increasing, mostly on the LP side of the business, with GP-led transactional activity more muted.

Gleize will work on a team with a dedicated headcount of 10, with access to the investment banking team and industry bankers on deals as necessary, a source told Buyouts.

Goldman’s secondary advisory group is led by partner David Kamo and managing director Josef Menasche, who has been on the advisory team since joining in 2021. Menasche was promoted to managing director earlier this month, the firm announced.

The team has seen some departures in recent years, including the former head of the group, Alex Mejia, who left in September 2022 to join mid-market investment bank Baird to lead the build-out of a secondaries advisory function.

Last year, Kamo said the bank continues to support its secondaries advisory strategy. “The secondary advisory market continues to be a key area of focus for Goldman, and under my continued leadership, we anticipate growing our capabilities in this space and continuing to provide a differentiated service offering that leverages the full breadth of our leading investment banking franchise,” Kamo said in a statement.

The secondary advisory team has been working on New Mountain Capital’s continuation fund process for Datavant, which is expected to close soon, sources said. The team has several other deals soon to hit the market, including a multi-asset continuation fund deal, a source said.

Secondaries saw about $50 billion of total activity, with GP-led deals representing about 35 percent in the first half, according to PJT Park Hill’s volume report. The expectation is that GP-led deals will keep hitting the market, with GP desire to run such processes at a high level.

Buyers, however, are expected to continue to be selective in the deals they work on, looking for quality teams and well-performing assets.