Goldman hedge fund takes mighty fall

A $989 million loss by a Goldman Sachs fund year-to-date through September offers more proof that in the hedge fund space, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. The Goldman Sachs Investment Partners fund, which was launched in January with $6 billion under management, reportedly told shareholders the fund had taken a huge hit as part of the overall financial crisis. The fund, managed by a unit of The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. of New York, was down 13% in the third quarter and was down 15.5% through the first nine months of the year, according to the Financial Times. The report attributed more than half of the fund’s losses in the third quarter to investments in commodities, basic materials, metals, mining, energy and agriculture. Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research Inc.’s convertible bond index fell by 20% this year through September. Over the same period the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index was down 20.7%. There was no immediate response to a request for comment from Goldman Sachs.