Argentina’s return to international capital markets gathered real momentum over the past year, driven by fiscal adjustment, falling inflation and a renewed appetite for strategic investment. Against that backdrop, Goldman Sachs emerged as a standout advisor, executing a sequence of transactions that reopened equity markets, reshaped banking ownership and anchored Argentina’s resurgence in energy and mining finance.
The firm advised on transactions totaling more than $10 billion across banking, infrastructure, mining and technology, building what clients describe as a full-spectrum franchise in a market that only recently reentered global deal flow.
Mariano Vojvodic, Head of Goldman Sachs Argentina, says the macro turnaround has been decisive. “I think what we have seen in the last two years is quite impressive and we are enthusiastic about the prospects going forward. When we look ahead, we see significant growth in the energy, mining and infrastructure sectors. The three of them have material investment needs that will require financing of scale.”
Inflation through November stood at 31.4%, down from nearly 120% the previous year, while Argentina recorded a fiscal surplus and a return to economic growth, according to official statistics.
Goldman Sachs led one of the most emblematic transactions of the cycle: the sale of Despegar to Prosus in a deal valued at $1.7 billion. Vojvodic calls the transaction “transformational and one of the largest online travel agency M&A in history,” marking a milestone in Latin America’s digital travel sector and highlighting renewed foreign strategic interest in Argentine platforms.
Equally significant was HSBC’s exit from Argentina. Goldman Sachs served as exclusive financial advisor to HSBC on the $1.1 billion sale of its local operations to Grupo Financiero Galicia, the largest banking M&A transaction in the country since 2012. The deal culminated in a $636 million secondary registered block trade of Galicia ADRs, the first equity offering out of Argentina in eight years and the largest block trade from the country in more than a decade.
Goldman also advised Rio Tinto on its $6.7 billion acquisition of Arcadium Lithium, creating a global lithium champion with a substantial Argentine footprint.
In energy infrastructure, Goldman participated in the $2 billion loan financing for Vaca Muerta Oil Sur, a consortium building a pipeline capable of transporting up to seven hundred thousand barrels per day from the Vaca Muerta shale formation to a new Atlantic port terminal.
Beyond marquee M&A, Goldman supported corporate liquidity and refinancing across sectors. The bank participated in Mercado Libre’s revolving credit facility upsizing, VMOS’s senior secured term loan and financing extensions for ACI Airports Sudamérica, underscoring its role as a consistent capital provider during Argentina’s reopening phase.
The firm’s activity spanned oil and gas, financial services, mining, technology, agriculture and healthcare, reflecting a strategy centered on cross-product execution rather than isolated mandates.
Fernando Bravo, Head of the Andean Region and Latin American Infrastructure, says the firm remains constructive on the country’s outlook. “Even though there continues to be political and social volatility and we have a heavy electoral calendar next year, we believe that there is going to be quite a bit of activity in financing, capital markets and on the strategic side in sectors like natural resources and infrastructure.”
In a year when Argentina reestablished itself as a credible destination for capital, Goldman Sachs helped define the market’s new chapter — reopening equity issuance, restructuring banking ownership and anchoring long-term investment in energy and mining. For the depth and scale of its execution, it is Investment Bank of the Year for Argentina.