Goldman Sachs Asset Management has agreed to acquire Verus Investors’ strategic partnership business, which includes $21 billon in assets. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The unit will become a part of Goldman Sachs Asset Managements’ outsourcing solutions business, which provides asset allocation, portfolio construction, and risk management. Goldman Sachs Asset Management is the asset management arm of investment bank Goldman Sachs.
The acquisition “adds to the overall depth of our investment team, and Verus brings some additional risk analysis that would be beneficial to our client base,” said Greg Calnon, managing director of Goldman Sachs Asset Management’ Global Portfolio Solutions.
“We’ve looked at other possible acquisitions to determine if it would be additive or redundant, and we think this acquisition is additive.”
Jeffrey Scott, Verus Investors’ chief investment officer, will move over to Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Joining Scott are deputy chief investment officer Omer Tareen, managing director Scott Day, and supporting portfolio management staff and analysts.
Verus will retain its core business lines, including the outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) business, traditional consulting, risk management, and private markets consulting.
“Outsourcing is a trend that we see growing in pension funds, endowments, foundations, and healthcare orgbed a tremendous amount of our capacity and required a great deal of operational support that wasn’t central to our core business,” said Verus CEO Jeffrey MacLean. “By seeking a large financial services firm such as Goldman Sachs, we are able to ensure the clients under this umbrella would be given the opportunity to have their expanding needs met for many years to come and allow Verus to focus on our core competencies.”
By Michael Katz