By Carleton English
Goldman Sachs Group may be close to selling its GreenSky business, a deal that could be a win-win for the buyers and the seller.
If the deal flies, Goldman (ticker: GS) gets to offload another business it perhaps never should have bought -- albeit at a steep discount to what it paid for it. Meanwhile, Sixth Street $(TSLX)$, Pacific Investment Management, KKR $(KKR)$, and others reported to be part of the consortium of interested buyers would gain a loan-origination business at a compelling price.
Goldman bought GreenSky in a 2021 deal that closed for about $1.7 billion in stock. This July, Goldman wrote down $504 million of goodwill from its consumer business, essentially admitting that GreenSky wasn't worth the acquisition price. Monetizing the asset shows even more deterioration in its value: The deal to sell GreenSky to the consortium is reported to be around $500 million, though terms could still change.
While Goldman isn't gaining financially from the deal, it is getting rid of a noncore business at a time when capital-markets activity -- its traditional bread and butter -- is picking up. Over the past two weeks, it has been a lead underwriter on initial public offerings for Arm Holdings $(ARM)$, Instacart $(CART)$, and Klaviyo $(KVYO)$, three of the year's more significant market debuts.
On the other side, Sixth Street and its partners would gain exposure in lending areas some banks are shying away from. Higher interest rates have created balance-sheet worries for banks as the value of bondholdings has fallen.
Write to Carleton English at carleton.english@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 22, 2023 15:41 ET (19:41 GMT)
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