Goldman Sachs Asset Management is doing fine, thank you very much. Clients continue to invest in hedge funds via Hedge Fund Strategies — Goldman’s fund of funds unit within the $65 billion Alternative Investments & Manager Selection group — despite bad press for the bank generally and a backlash by many investors against the fund of funds model. In fact, the fund of funds unit has consistently grown its business since the financial crisis and through its public relations debacle stemming from now-settled Securities and Exchange Commission allegations of misleading clients. Since early 2009, Goldman’s Hedge Fund Strategies assets have increased roughly 13% to around $21 billion in assets today (the bank does not comment on performance or even name specific funds). Goldman says its fund of funds team is the “largest, deepest, and strongest” in its long history, with more than 100 professionals, 40 of them on investment and...
