Goldman Sachs pursues bigger share of AI infrastructure financing boom

The Wall Street giant is creating a team within its global banking and markets division that will focus on infrastructure financing globally, both by lending more in the sector and finding investors to buy that debt, according to people familiar with the matter.

The effort is being fueled by the new wave of multibillion-dollar deals that involve financing artificial-intelligence data centers, the massive amounts of power they need to run, and the processing units behind the AI build-out. The new team will also focus on the building or upgrading of traditional infrastructure, ranging from toll roads to airports, in developed and emerging markets.

Other areas that will fall under the new team: arranging financing for renewables and certain types of liquefied-natural-gas production that are in growing demand globally, and financing military and other equipment tied to rising defense spending in many countries.

Goldman’s profits are increasingly being propelled by its growing presence in the world of financing. The company reports a big chunk of the lending it arranges through what it calls FICC financing, where revenue this year surpassed $1 billion a quarter, up from $651 million in the first quarter of 2023.

Goldman’s Capital Solutions Group, created early this year, works on finding or facilitating financing deals.

On Friday, Goldman told employees it is making changes to the unit, including the creation of the infrastructure and real-asset finance group. The team will be led by John Greenwood, according to a memo seen by The Wall Street Journal.

The memo cited three other teams. Nearly all of the changes are tied to what Goldman bankers say is a surge in borrowing needs from governments and companies.

The firm is combining groups that have focused on providing financing to companies that originate mortgages and other loans to consumers into a team that will be led by Steven Moffitt and Rajiv Kamilla. That team also provides financing to private-equity firms that buy consumer-loan balances.

Separately, a private- and alternatives-capital markets group will focus on arranging private loans in lieu of public bond issuance for companies looking to raise debt. The Capital Solutions Group will also include the firm’s existing commercial real estate finance group. The two teams are led, respectively, by Michael Voris and Miriam Wheeler.

Beyond increasing revenue from lending, Goldman’s goal is to create more investment vehicles for asset- and wealth-management clients, according to people familiar with the matter. The firm also plans to continue to put some of this debt on its balance sheet and to sell other portions to insurance companies and the broader securitization market.

Write to AnnaMaria Andriotis at annamaria.andriotis@wsj.com