Goldman Sachs, which was outside the top five rankings in Italian ECM last year, is examining options for the Benetton family's €1.7bn ($2.1bn) stake in Autogrill, the motorway restaurant chain, which may include an equity-linked issue.

Alessandro Benetton, the son of Luciano Benetton, the founder of the Italian clothing company, worked as an analyst with Goldman Sachs in London after completing an MBA at Harvard University.