Goldman to workers: Put your money where your mouth is

Goldman Sachs is seeking to raise $1 billion (£525 million) from its employees as part of the financing of a $10 billion private equity fund, The Times has learnt. The fund, once financed, will put Goldmans on an equal footing with the world’s biggest buyout firms.

About a third of the money is expected to be raised from the bank and its employees, who earn an average $521,000 each, with the rest coming from investors in Asia, Europe and the US.

Money-raising for the global fund is expected to be completed at the beginning of next year. The first investments will be made immediately after that.

The fund will be the fifth- biggest raised, behind funds set up by KKR, Blackstone and Permira. The average size of the investments made by the fund will be between $300 million and $400 million. No more than 15 per cent of the fund will be put into a single company.

Although the private equity division of Goldman Sachs will continue to co-invest with other private equity groups — the bank does not want to lead deals (uh huh, sure) — the fund will reignite discussions about conflicts of interest at Goldman Sachs, which advises many of the world’s biggest companies on deals.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9063-2337991,00.html