Goldman Sachs Group Inc has closed a $9.7 billion private equity fund, its largest since 2007 and seeks to invest in companies with an enterprise value of about $750 million to $2 billion, the bank said on Tuesday.
The West Street Capital Partners VIII fund is known as the Wall Street giant's asset management arm. Julian Salisbury, global co-head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said in a statement that this fundraise builds on our 30 year history in private equity as we continue to scale the business and make our alternatives offerings available to a wider range of investors. Private equity PE accounting for $176 billion is a part of the business, which oversees $2.5 trillion in assets.
Goldman's money managers are not alone in raising PE funds. BlackRock Inc raised $3 billion last year to invest in PE secondary market deals, as it raised $35 billion focused on PE strategies.
Morgan Stanley Investment Management has closed a number of private equity funds this year with assets under management in excess of $3.25 billion, a spokesman said.
The Private Credit Equity platform has $40 billion in assets under management, including $25 billion in direct, secondaries and co-investment private equity funds.
Investors in Goldman's latest venture include pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, family offices and high-net worth individuals. The bank, along with some of its employees, also invested.
The fund has already backed Norgine, a European pharmaceutical company, Nippo Corp, a road pavement company in Japan, and Parexel, a clinical research organization.
Salisbury said the fund is well positioned for the market environment and we see opportunities across multiple sectors and geographies.
Inflation, rising interest rates, geopolitical turmoil and increased government scrutiny have contributed to the surge in market volatility and a slowdown in private equity deals in 2022, according to a report by PwC.