金德摩根收购埃尔帕索

    就在高盛（Goldman Sachs）因为把客户当猴耍而遭到嘲笑的时候，在金德摩根公司（Kinder Morgan ）收购同样从事石油管线业的竞争对手埃尔帕索公司（El Paso）的交易背后，又隐隐约约地浮现出高盛的那只“看不见的手”。高盛公司在这笔交易中为埃尔帕索公司提供了咨询服务，同时高盛还拥有金德摩根近20%的股权。而高盛的首席银行家也是金德摩根的一名股东。

    埃尔帕索公司的股东后来表示，正是因为高盛“吃了上家吃下家”，才导致他们的公司卖便宜了。特拉华州的一名法官虽然严厉批评高盛和埃尔帕索的董事会在这笔交易中的利益瓜葛，但还是批准了这笔交易。金德摩根最后掏出1.1亿美元用于搞定股东诉讼，而高盛也不得不放弃2,000万美元的咨询费用。

Kinder Morgan-El Paso

    At a time when Goldman Sachs was being derided for treating its clients like "muppets," the $21 billion acquisition of rival pipeline company El Paso by Kinder Morgan (KMI, Fortune 500)seemed like yet another datapoint. Goldman advised El Paso on the deal. Yet, Goldman owned nearly 20% of Kinder at the time. Goldman's lead banker, too, was a Kinder shareholder.

    Goldman's split loyalty, El Paso shareholders later said, resulted in a lower price for their company. A Delaware judge heavily criticized Goldman and El Paso's board of directors for the conflicts of interest, but approved the deal anyway. Kinder ended up paying $110 million to settle the shareholder suit. Goldman had to forgo its $20 million fee.