Goldman Sachs Alternatives is the alternative investment business of Goldman Sachs, focused on private equity, private credit, secondaries, real estate, infrastructure, and growth equity investments.
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History
Goldman Sachs has historically invested capital in a variety of businesses alongside its investment banking clients. In the early and mid-1980s, Goldman Sachs was a slow entrant into the financing of leveraged buyouts and junk bonds and preferred to focus on its traditional mergers and acquisitions advisory business. Beginning in 1983, however, Goldman Sachs began making longer-term equity investments in private equity transactions that came through its investment banking and other clients.
Goldman Sachs Alternatives was founded in 1986, at the same time that similar groups were founded at other investment banks including Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking and Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. Goldman Sachs established investment partnerships that allowed its clients to participate alongside the firm in private equity transactions.
Investment funds
Since 1992, Goldman Sachs Alternatives has raised third party capital in addition to investing on behalf of the firm, its clients, and its employees through institutional private equity funds. Goldman Sachs Alternatives’ third party investors include pension funds, insurance companies, endowments, fund of funds, high-net-worth individuals, sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors.