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Even as tensions between the US and China remained high, Goldman Sachs utilised funds from a partnership set up with Chinese state-backed capital to acquire several US and UK businesses, according to a report by The Financial Times (FT) on Wednesday.
The Wall Street bank established a $2.5 billion partnership fund with China's sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation (CIC), in 2017. Since its inception, the fund has invested in seven diverse companies.
Remarkably, despite deteriorating relations between the US and China, Goldman Sachs has intensified its investment activities through this fund, FT added.
Goldman Sachs' former chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, initiated the China-US Industrial Cooperation Partnership Fund during Donald Trump's official visit to Beijing in 2017. Blankfein stated that the fund aimed to alleviate Washington's concerns over the trade imbalance with China by channelling Chinese capital into American enterprises.
Blankfein also noted that CIC would serve as an anchor investor in the fund, actively assisting the acquired companies in expanding their operations within China.
In 2021, the fund acquired LRQA, the inspections and cybersecurity division of the UK's maritime classifications group Lloyd's Register. Specialising in inspection and certification services, LRQA operates in sectors including aerospace, defence, energy, and healthcare.
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The fund has also invested in Nettitude, a firm specialising in ethical hacking.
In the US, investments include Cprime, a consultancy firm that focuses on cloud computing, and Parexel, a pharmaceutical testing company.
FT reported that the fund has additionally invested in Project44, a start-up focused on tracking global supply chains; Aptos, a retail technology firm; Visual Comfort and Co, a lighting enterprise; and Boyd Corporation, a California-based manufacturer specialising in cooling systems for machine learning applications and drones.
