NEW YORK – Defined contribution plan sponsors face a daunting task in an uncertain economic environment: to help employees accumulate enough money for a secure retirement. A new fund from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P. (“GSAM”) seeks to help sponsors meet this challenge. The Goldman Sachs Retirement Portfolio Completion Fund (Class A Shares: GRPOX) (“RPC” or the “Fund”) offers defined contribution plan sponsors and investors access to the diversifying non-traditional asset classes used by pension plans, in a single, daily valued mutual fund.
“Market volatility and low interest rates make it challenging for DC participants to establish a risk-managed investment portfolio,” said Phil Callahan, Managing Director, GSAM’s Retirement Services Group. “Goldman Sachs RPC shows that broader diversification and less crowded plan menus are not mutually exclusive. By combining a number of asset classes, RPC may also carry less risk and volatility than a number of its individual underlying asset classes.”
The Fund intends to gain exposure to inflation-linked government bonds, global real estate investment trusts, commodities, emerging markets equity, emerging markets sovereign credit, North American high yield corporate credit, and hedge fund industry beta (i.e., the component of hedge fund returns that is attributable to market risk exposure, rather than manager skill).
Fred Conley, Vice President and Head of Institutional Defined Contribution Sales, added, “The plan sponsors we talked to as we developed this fund were concerned about market volatility, low interest rates and potential inflation. They want to offer participants access to the same investments that many defined benefit plans use to address these risks. RPC is a solution that offers plan participants exposure to these non-traditional asset classes through one convenient investment option.”
Within the Fund, GSAM determines the allocation to each asset class and then employs a passive investment approach with respect to achieving exposure to most asset classes for efficiency and to reduce transaction costs. It is managed by the Quantitative Investment Strategies team of more than 60 investment professionals and 60-plus professionals dedicated to trading, information technology and the development of analytical tools.
The Fund’s performance benchmark is a composite of the S&P 500 Index (60%) and the Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index (40%). Additionally, GSAM created a proprietary Retirement Portfolio Completion Benchmark.
The Fund is offered in Class A and Class C Shares, both with $1,000 minimum initial investments. The Fund also offers Institutional, Class R and Class IR Shares.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management is the asset management arm of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), which manages $836 billion as of June 30, 2012. Goldman Sachs Asset Management has been providing discretionary investment advisory services since 1988 and has investment professionals in all major financial centers around the world. The company offers investment strategies across a broad range of asset classes to institutional and individual clients globally. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals.
