The Goldman Sachs securitization banker who left for the buy-side
As Goldman Sachs insiders voice vague complaints about their pay, some of the people the firm might like to keep, seem to be leaving.
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They're not only managing directors. Mikael Nabati, a vice president, is understood to have resigned last week. He's thought to be joining Liberty Mutual Investments, an insurance firm with an asset management arm.
Goldman Sachs declined to comment and Liberty Mutual and Nabati didn't respond to requests to comment.
Nabati was hired by Srujan Linga, the former Goldman Sachs managing director best known for sitting in an ice bath in an effort to win a mandate from WeWork. Linga himself quietly left for a role in the US government last April.
There's some dispute over Nabati's importance. His colleagues say he'll be missed. "He's a very creative guy," says one, claiming that Nabati came up with a new way of securitizing cash flows for airlines during COVID by using frequent flier programs as collateral. "He's discreet, but super effective. Pragmatic and results oriented and very well-liked by clients."
In a possible measure of Nabati's internal heft, he hosted a panel titled "Securitizing the future" at last year's Goldman's structured finance conference.
As Goldman pushes into private credit, Nabati nonetheless looks like the sort of person the firm might like to keep. - He began his career as a leveraged finance lawyer before moving to Deutsche Bank's principal desk and focusing on illiquid credit opportunities, then becoming a portfolio manager for a private credit fund, and then joining Goldman, where he spent nearly six years.
At Liberty Mutual, it's thought he will focus on originations in structured credit and private debt.
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