Goldman Strikes Deal to Sell GreenSky Unit to Sixth Street Group

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to sell its GreenSky unit to a consortium led by Sixth Street Partners.

(Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to sell its GreenSky unit to a consortium led by Sixth Street Partners.

The deal, which is expected to close early next year, will result in a 19-cent-per-share hit to third-quarter earnings, according to a statement from the bank. The deal includes the technology underpinning the installment-lending platform as well as associated loan assets. Goldman had previously said it booked a $504 million writedown on goodwill in the second quarter as it prepared to sell the unit.

The consortium acquiring GreenSky includes KKR & Co., Bayview Asset Management and CardWorks. Goldman didn’t disclose the transaction price for the deal. The deal includes support from Pacific Investment Management Co. through an asset acquisition, as well as financing from CPP Investments.

Goldman is offloading the lending platform less than two years after acquiring it as part of a broader retreat from the mass market. The Wall Street giant’s foray into consumer lending proved costlier than expected, and the company said it pushed too quickly into the effort, contributing to missteps.

The New York-based firm had reached a deal in 2021 to buy GreenSky for $2.24 billion, a price that decreased to about $1.7 billion before the all-stock transaction was completed early last year. The move was meant to give Goldman the largest fintech platform for home-improvement consumer-loan originations, adding to its offerings of savings accounts, personal loans and credit cards.

The Goldman division that houses the firm’s consumer unit had a pretax loss of $1.18 billion in the first half of the year, bringing its total pretax losses to $5 billion since the start of 2020.

The earnings hit from the GreenSky sale, which translates to a bit more than $60 million, is tied to a writedown of intangibles, markdowns on the loan portfolio and a tax impact, partially offset by a release of loan reserves.

–With assistance from Ryan Gould.

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