Goldman Sachs International has announced the launch of its first third party manager UCITS fund platform. This global, multi–manager platform provides managers with the ability to create their own independently managed UCITS compliant funds.

This Luxembourg SICAV is an umbrella structure with a series of different sub-funds each separately managed by fund managers independent of Goldman Sachs. Each fund manager is able to trade its own strategy, as set out in the sub-fund documents, using the infrastructure of the platform, including independent service providers such as custodian, administrator and auditor. The platform additionally benefits from the strength of the global Prime Brokerage franchise. Management of each sub-fund is independent of all other sub-funds and is not subject to any fiduciary oversight from any party other than the manager of the specific sub-fund.

James Paradise, global co-head of Prime Brokerage at Goldman Sachs said “We believe that the platform offers our hedge fund manager clients an innovative solution to help them meet the diverse requirements of their investors in a simple and effective manner.”

The platform is launching with two sub-funds managed by GLC Ltd (which may be registered for public distribution in the UK in the future) and is working with several other managers for launch later this summer/autumn.

Lawrence Staden, Managing Director of GLC, commented "We are delighted at the successful launch of our two UCITS products. We chose this platform to launch our UCITS funds both because of our long relationship with Goldman Sachs and also because we felt our strategies and their platform offered a genuine realisation of the UCITS ethos."

Goldman Sachs International has an existing track record in relation to UCITS funds, including the establishment of a Luxembourg platform in 2007 which provides investors with exposure to UCITS funds created by the Goldman Sachs International and which currently has over $3bln in AUM.