Critics of Goldman Sachs enjoy accusing the firm of being a hedge fund. But such accusations look wide of the mark given that Goldman’s Asia’s equity guru, Hyder Ahmad, has just quit to start his own fund.
As head of risk arbitrage and co-head of Asia securities, Ahmad built Goldman Sachs’s equity operation in Asia, described by one insider as a “very well-oiled money-making machine”. Moreover, Ahmad achieved this while remaining one of the most urbane and likeable of bankers.
Keen to return to active trading, Ahmad is believed to have raised more than $1 billion already for an Asia-focused, multi-strategy fund.
Goldman might have lost some star bankers to hedge fund start-ups lately but the firm can take solace that many never leave the fold completely. Ahmad is no exception: once his fund is closed he will be returning to Goldman Sachs, this time as a client of the firm’s prime brokerage division.