Goldman Is Raising a Fund to Take Stakes in Private-Equity Firms

(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Petershill unit, which buys stakes in alternative asset managers, is seeking to raise as much as $4 billion for a new fund, according to people familiar with the matter.

The fund will mostly invest in private equity but also set aside some money for hedge funds, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing fundraising plans.

Stake sales offer another source of capital for firm founders looking to seed new strategies or who -- facing generational or succession issues -- are attempting to at least partly cash out. Petershill competes in that business with firms such as Neuberger Berman Group’s Dyal Capital and Blackstone Group LP, which began speaking to investors late last year about a second fund dedicated to the strategy.

Petershill has recently made investments in startups such as Navab Capital Partners, founded by former KKR & Co. private equity executive Alex Navab, and last year did its first venture capital deal by taking a stake in General Catalyst Partners. The new fundraising target is almost double what Goldman had sought for its fund last year, when it tried to raise about $2 billion and raised an additional $500 million.

A Goldman representative declined to comment.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sonali Basak in New York at sbasak7@bloomberg.net;Sridhar Natarajan in New York at snatarajan15@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Steve Dickson, Steven Crabill

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