Goldman Sachs closes $9.7 bln private-equity fund, largest since 2007

Goldman Sachs Group Inc has closed a $9.7 billion private-equity fund, its largest since 2007, that seeks to spend money on firms with an enterprise worth of about $750 million to $2 billion, the financial institution stated on Tuesday.

The fund sits below the Wall Road large’s asset administration arm and is called “West Road Capital Companions VIII.” It plans to take a position a mean of $300 million to take controlling stakes in firms within the monetary and enterprise providers sectors, in addition to healthcare, client, expertise and local weather change transition.

“This fundraise builds on our 30-year historical past in non-public fairness as we proceed to scale the enterprise and make our alternate options choices out there to a wider vary of traders,” Julian Salisbury, world co-head of Goldman Sachs Asset Administration, stated in a press release. GSAM, because the enterprise is understood, oversees $2.5 trillion in belongings, with non-public fairness (PE) accounting for $176 billion.

Goldman’s cash managers aren’t alone in elevating PE funds. BlackRock Inc has about $35 billion targeted on PE methods, and final yr alone, it raised $3 billion to spend money on PE secondary market offers.

Morgan Stanley Funding Administration has additionally closed a number of non-public fairness funds this yr with belongings below administration in extra of $3.25 billion, a spokesperson stated.

The agency’s Personal Credit score & Fairness platform has $40 billion in belongings below administration, together with $25 billion in direct, secondaries and co-investment non-public fairness funds.

Traders in Goldman’s newest enterprise embody pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, monetary establishments, household workplaces and high-net-worth people. The financial institution, in addition to a few of its staff, additionally invested.

The fund has already backed Norgine, a European pharmaceutical firm; Nippo Corp, a highway pavement firm in Japan; and Parexel, a scientific analysis group, amongst others.

“The fund is properly positioned for the market surroundings and we see alternatives throughout a number of sectors and geographies,” Salisbury stated.

New dangers resembling inflation, rising rates of interest, geopolitical turmoil and elevated authorities scrutiny have contributed to the surge in market volatility and a slowdown in non-public fairness offers in 2022, PwC stated in a current report.