Latin America's best bank for advisory 2018: Goldman Sachs

While BAML and Citi are both reaping rewards from maintaining commitment and presence in the region, the winner of the best bank for advisory is probably the Wall Street firm most synonymous with retreat there. Goldman Sachs has invested and divested from the region as its fortunes waxed and waned, but this year saw a very positive return. Led by Gonzalo Garcia and Ram Sundaram, co-heads of Latin America, the bank has thrown resources and balance sheet at the region. It has paid off.

Goldman hired Facundo Vazquez (previously Itaú BBA and UBS) to co-head the ECM business in January. Last year it hired Rodolfo Perez from Morgan Stanley as co-head of its investment banking division in Mexico. Max Ritter also joined from Morgan Stanley to head Latin America M&A advisory and there have been other senior and lower level additions to the teams.

Importantly, there has also been an impressive uptick in mandates. Goldman as a bank targets the high-value, high-fee work; deals such as the PagSeguro IPO tick all those boxes.