Goldman Sachs hope to take its place among the investment banks with the biggest private equity funds by launching a $10 billion offering, and it expects its people to pony up about $1 billion of it. The Times of London did not indicate how much staffers were expected to contribute, but it noted that employees make an average of more than $520,000 a year, so conceivably they may have some spare change to throw to the cause. All together the bank and its workers will account for about one-third of the total assets raised, making it the fifth largest p.e. fund behind offerings by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts; The Blackstone Group and Permira. The new p.e. fund, says The Times, is likely to raise some old conflicts-of-interest issues, as Goldman Sachs – which expects to make individual investments of between $300 million and $400 million from the fund – advises on many buyout deals. It also marks the imprint of new CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, who succeeded new U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. at the top of GS. Paulson, according to The Times, recently blasted private equity firms in Europe about failed bids by consortiums of p.e. firms, which included his old company.
