Goldman Sachs running to catch-up with hedge fund offering

Goldman Sachs Group is taking a page from its Wall Street competitors in bringing a new hedge fund product to market.

The firm has begun offering its wealthiest customers the opportunity to invest in about a half-dozen hedge funds, according to regulatory filings, including well-known names like Brevan Howard and Jana Partners, without having to go to the funds themselves, which require much higher minimum investments.

The new offering, called Hedge Fund Select, is similar to products that other big brokers like Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp’s Merrill Lynch division have offered for many years.

But the model is new to Goldman, which has historically preferred to market its own hedge fund products, or steer customers into a so-called fund-of-funds that spreads money between an array of portfolios.

Over the years, some clients of Goldman have complained that the firm’s own hedge funds have performed poorly, while its outside hedge fund offerings were not as robust as those at other Wall Street firms.

With the new arrangement, Goldman clients who have $25 million or more with the investment bank can invest in the funds on the Hedge Fund Select platform, according to a person familiar with the product. There is a minimum $500,000 investment in any single fund, and Goldman will earn a 1 percent fee on the money invested with any particular fund.