By Saeed Azhar

NEW YORK, March 5 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs GS.N named David Dubner as chief operating officer of global mergers and acquisitions, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Wednesday, beefing up leadership in one of its most important businesses.

Goldman Sachs has consistently topped the M&A league tables for years, advising on some the biggest deals globally.

In this COO role, Dubner will leverage his nearly two decades of experience at the firm to help develop and execute the firm's strategy to grow its market-leading franchise, the memo cited Stephan Feldgoise, co-head of Goldman's global M&A business, as saying.Wall Street executives last year had cheered the prospect of business-friendly regulations after the return of Donald Trump as president and were anticipating a burst of deals in 2025.

However, the pace of U.S. mergers and acquisitions in the first two months of 2025 was the weakest since the financial crisis with just 1,603 deals signed through Friday, making it the slowest open by volume since 2009, Dealogic data showed.

Dubner is currently global head of the firm's M&A structuring within investment banking, a role he will continue to perform, the memo said. The role also has oversight of M&A capital markets and new M&A Quants practice, the memo said.

His team was involved in advising Honeywell, which is splitting into three independently listed companies, breaking up one of America's last standing conglomerates.

The company said earlier this month said it would separate its aerospace and automation businesses into separate entities, alongside its previously announced spin-off of the advanced materials unit.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

((Saeed.Azhar@thomsonreuters.com; +1 347 908-6341; Reuters Messaging: saeed.azhar.reuters.com@reuters.net))