New York Common Fund Gives $2 Billion to Goldman Sachs

The New York State Common Retirement Fund announced today it plans to give $2 billion to Goldman Sachs Asset Management to invest in global equities.

Reported by Bloomberg:

It’s the first time the $180.7 billion fund has formed such a partnership, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, the pension’s sole trustee, said today in a statement. In addition to investing the funds with equity managers, the unit of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) will also provide advice across the pension’s remaining $98 billion equity portfolio.

“Identifying new opportunities is key to the continued growth of the fund’s long-term value,” DiNapoli said. It will give the pension “full access to world-class global equity investment opportunities and the nimbleness to take advantage of them on a timely basis.”

New York joins public pension funds including New Jersey, New York City and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas in making big allocations of capital to investment managers that can be deployed more quickly and across different strategies. Such separately managed accounts offer cheaper fees and more control for investors, who in turn agree to commit large sums for a decade or more.

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Timothy O’Neill and Eric Lane, global co-heads of the investment management division at Goldman Sachs, said the partnership is a “landmark assignment” for the firm.

“We are excited to provide customized access to our broad open-architecture platform, due diligence expertise and portfolio construction capabilities,” they said jointly in the e-mailed statement from DiNapoli.

Thomas DiNapoli is New York State’s Comptroller, but he is also the sole trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund.