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Goldman Sachs (GS) said Monday that Hess (NYSE:HES) CEO John Hess has joined its board as an independent director, and will become a member of the Goldman board’s compensation, governance and risk committees.
Hess has served since 1995 as the family-run company’s top executive, but plans to retire from his company roles and join the board of Chevron, which is planning to acquire the company in a $53B deal that still requires regulatory approval and faces a lengthy arbitration battle with Exxon Mobil over the right of first refusal to any sale of Hess’ (HES) lucrative assets in Guyana.
Goldman Sachs (GS) is the lead financial advisor to Hess (HES) on the Chevron deal and stands to make as much as $80M in fees, contingent upon completion of the sale.
An unnamed senior Wall Street participant told the Financial Times that it is “very rare” for a senior executive who picked the advisor for the sale of his company to later join the board of an investment bank helping him in the sale process.