According to those familiar with the matter, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. could be earning around USD 50 million on the sale of tobacco company Swedish Match AB, reports Bloomberg.

Goldman Sachs acted as the sole financial adviser to Swedish Match on its USD 16 billion sale to Philip Morris International Inc. and could now earn USD 50 million in fees which, according to Bloomberg, would come as a windfall at a time when investment banks are grappling with slowing deal activity.
Philip Morris’ advisors Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are said to be looking at tens of millions of dollars in fees and have both committed USD 8 billion for a bridge loan to finance the purchase, reports Bloomberg.
According to Bloomberg, takeovers of European companies were down 25 per cent this year, while fundraising from initial public offerings on European exchanges plummeted 87 per cent and bond sales in Europe fell by 16 per cent.
Goldman Sachs has proved to be the top adviser on M&A deals globally this year, with transactions such as Microsoft’s USD 69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. and the potential USD 44 billion takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk under its belt.