UK/EUROPE – Goldman Sachs is to launch a multi-manager market independent hedge fund aimed primarily at pension funds and insurance companies, particularly in the UK and continental Europe.

The fund, which is currently being marketed for funding after June this year, has already obtained commitments from a number of institutional investors, according to Goldmans.

Access to the fund, named GS Global Market Independent Partners (GS GMIP), will come through a minimum investment of $1m, with a one per cent management fee levied for investments up to $5m, falling to 0.8% for investments between $5m and $8m and 0.6% for investments over $25m.

The fund is seeking to create a diversified portfolio of 15-20 market independent hedge fund managers that it says may include merger arbitrage, statistical arbitrage, convertible arbitrage, fixed-income arbitrage and equity market neutral.
Performance is pinned at a targeted annualised net return of 10-12% over a three to five year period with low correlation to equity and fixed-income markets, as well as consistent monthly returns with low volatility.

Goldmans says that in terms of portfolio diversification an allocation to a varied range of market independent strategies can enhance the risk/return profiles of traditional fixed-income and equity portfolios.
David Burnside, executive director of Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM), comments: “ The launch of the multi-manager market independent fund adds further to our extensive range of multi-manager products across all strategies. We have over thirty years experience in the hedge funds business and currently manage approximately $4bn in hedge fund investments. We are well established in the multi-manager hedge fund arena and have a long track record in choosing external managers.”