Unusual Goldman Sachs Move: Issuing a Closed-End Mutual Fund in MLPs

Banking, finance, and taxes

Published: November 26, 2013 11:10 am

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Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is not your typical financial firm. It caters to institutions and high net worth individuals almost exclusively. It is also a bank holding company, yet it has no banking branches, and you do not exactly think about going to them for a car loan, business loan or mortgage. Its investment products are generally not as available to the public, compared to Fidelity, Vanguard and the like. So what are we supposed to think when the firm launches a closed-end mutual fund, and one that is targeted to master limited partnerships (MLPs)?

The closed-end fund is called the Goldman Sachs MLP Income Opportunities Fund (NYSE: GMZ). It has begun trading and raised some $826.3 million in its initial public offering. As you can tell by the name, it targets MLPs for their dividends (distributions).

What also stands out here is that this is said to be the first-ever closed-end fund launched by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. This fund is managed by GSAM’s Energy & Infrastructure Team, and the team managed approximately $6.4 billion in MLPs and other energy sector investments as of September 30, 2013.

Again, this is simply a strange move from the firm that we have not seen before. Will Goldman Sachs start issuing many ETFs and no-load mutual funds next?

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