Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) is looking to commit as much as $1.5 billion to distressed investments, one third of which would be used to boost the firms exposure to leveraged loans, according to Reuters.
It couldnt be determined when the firm intends to implement the plan. Calls to the company were not immediately returned.
Goldmans plan might have come at just the right time. Since the start of the year, the Standard & Poors/Loan Syndications and Trading Association Leveraged Loan Index has gained 19% after losing 28% in 2008. Meanwhile, prices on the secondary market have climbed 16% year to date.
Charles Baillie, the co-head of alternative investments and manager selection at GSAM, told Reuters he is seeing opportunities to make private equity-like returns of some 20% by buying and holding assets like leveraged loans.
