Tim Leissner, who helped Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to build is business in Malaysia, has relocated to Los Angeles, saying it as a personal leave, according to the people who were familiar with the matter.
Leissner has been with Goldman Sachs from almost 18 years, and most recently he was chairman at Southeast Asia operations and based in Singapore, people familiar with the knowledge said, and asked to not mention their names. However Goldman Sachs denied to comment.
An email sent to Leissner, yielded an automatic reply saying, “I’m currently out of the office on personal leave with no access to emails.” There is not any information regarding, when he will come back to work, also calls on his mobile went to voice mail.
Leissner, is a German national who got married to a designer and former U.S. fashion model Kimora Lee Simmons, was involved in building the business of Goldman Sachs in Malaysia. The bank’s dealings with the country’s state-owned investment company, 1Malaysia Development Bhd., drew public scrutiny since of the extraordinary fees Goldman was paid.
Mr. Leissner was hired as head of investment banking in Singapore in August 2002 and became a partner in 2006. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1998 as an executive director in its mergers advisory business.
Goldman Sachs rated at 17th position last year among advisers on acquisitions involving Southeast Asian companies, downcast from fifth in 2014, the Bloomberg-compiled data show.
Goldman Sachs worked on $18.8 billion of Malaysian acquisitions and mergers over the preceding five years, making it the topmost foreign adviser with a 20.3% market share, conferring to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Goldman Sachs was ahead of Bank of America Corp., which had a 15.8% share, and shattered all local competitors excluding Malayan Banking Bhd. and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd.
