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Monday, January 25, 2010

GEO hedge fund shut down by Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs has closed its Global Equity Opportunities (GEO) Fund.

The hedge fund, which was once deemed the organisation’s flagship investment vehicle, is thought to have shut during December of last year, an unnamed source told the Financial Times.

At its peak, GEO attracted up to $7 billion of investment but the sum dwindled to $200 million by the time it was closed by the bank, the newspaper reported.

GEO suffered during the start of the global financial crisis, losing an estimated $1.5 billion in the first two weeks of August 2007.
The fund traded in algorithms which were impacted by the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007.

Goldman Sachs, CV Starr & Co, Perry Capital LLC and real estate business man Eli Broad were among the investors who put together a $3 billion rescue package to keep the fund afloat.

The investment was eventually recouped but the fund never attracted the same level of interest following the losses of that period.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs recently unveiled results for the fourth quarter.

Profits of $4.8 billion were recorded by the bank in the period, which took annual earnings to $13.4 billion.

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