Buffett and beloved banker Byron Trott
Byron Trott, a 50-year-old senior Goldman Sachs banker and Warren Buffett's most beloved banker, is leaving to start his own advisory and investment firm - BDT Capital Partners. Trott used to be Goldman's vice-chairman of Investment Banking and ran the company's Chicago office, and he is only Banker Warren Buffett Likes according to a column on Trott in March 2008, Wall Street Journal.
For the most part, Trott's departure from Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is inevitable. With the tight restrictions on compensation (because of the TARP financing), it is tough to keep rainmakers on board. For example, Merrill Lynch European energy banker Jonathan Grundy joined Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley banker Maurice Marchesini joined UBS along with former Bank of America veteran Sean Minnihan.
Trott's Past
- Byron Trott graduated from the University of Chicago and joined New York based Goldman Sachs in 1982 as a stock broker.
- In 1994, Mr.Trott became a partner and later made millions when the firm went public in 1999.
- After helping Buffett p
ut three deals together, Mr. Buffett singled him out in his 2003 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders: “He understands Berkshire far better than any investment banker with whom we have talked and - it hurts me to say this - earns his fee.” - In 2008, Trott helped Buffett with the candymaker Mars' $23 billion purchase of Wrigley Company, which is one of the biggest deals of the year. .
- In 2008, Trott helped line up a $5 billion capital injection to Goldman from Warren Buffett's Bershire Hathaway Inc. in September which was later supplemented with a $5.75 billion sale of common stock.
- Mr. Buffett referred to Mr. Trott again in his shareholder letter 2008, saying that he is “a rare investment banker who puts himself in his client’s shoes.” “I trust him completely,” he added.
Trott's Future
Trott will start a merchant banking firm (BDT Capital Partners) that will include a $2 billion fund to invest in family controlled and 
entrepreneurial companies and advise them.
Warren Buffett and Byron Trott
Buffett, who invested $5 billion into Sachs at Trott’s suggestion, will invest money in Trott’s new venture as well. “We’ll have a modest partnership interest,” Mr. Buffett said in an interview with Patterson, although he noted, “We will not be the big dog.” As to the other investors, “Most of them will be from a group of family companies that in one way or another he’s been close to,” Buffett said.
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