Goldman Sachs AM (GSAM) announced today, January 15, 2026, the launch in Europe of the Goldman Sachs MSCI World Private Equity Return Tracker UCITS ETF (ticker: GSPE).
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By ETFWorld.co.uk
Hilary Lopez, head of the EMEA Third Party Wealth Business at Goldman Sachs Asset Management
The new passive fund aims to replicate the returns of the private equity market using exclusively shares listed on public markets, offering investors a liquid and exchange-tradable solution.
Technical Characteristics of the New ETF
The GSPE ETF aims to provide investment results that correspond as closely as possible to the performance of the MSCI World Private Equity Return Tracker Index, before fees and expenses. The product is listed on Deutsche Börse and its Total Expense Ratio (TER) is set at 0.50%.
Management is entrusted to Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Quantitative Investment Strategies (QIS) team, which employs advanced quantitative methods and boasts over 35 years of experience in liquid alternative strategies.
Difference Compared to Existing Traditional Private Equity ETFs
GSPE’s mechanism differs from that of existing private equity ETFs. Traditional products invest directly in listed private equity firms (like Blackstone or KKR), whose share price reflects both the value of their portfolio of private holdings and the market dynamics of their stock.
GSPE, however, does not invest in private equity. Its reference index uses the proprietary MSCI Private Capital Universe database – covering $7.7 trillion in assets, over 9,700 funds, and approximately 174,000 private companies – to extract their typical exposures in terms of geographic area, sector, and investment style. These exposures are then replicated by selecting a basket of publicly listed shares that mimic them.
“We continue to see strong demand from our European client base for solutions that offer diversification benefits across the entire liquidity spectrum. With the launch of GSPE in Europe, we are now able to offer investors exposure to returns similar to those of private markets in a liquid and transparent structure,” said Hilary Lopez, Head of the EMEA Third Party Wealth Business at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
“The MSCI World Private Equity Return Tracker Index combines MSCI’s methodological and transparent index construction approach with our private company data and analytical expertise. The index is designed to support investment solutions that aim to offer returns similar to private equity within the perimeter of public markets,” added Sebastien Lieblich, Head of EMEA & APAC Index at MSCI.
Risks and Considerations
The product faces a fundamental criticism leveled at ETFs that seek to expose investors to private equity. An analytical article by Lipper Alpha highlighted how a liquidity mismatch could exist between the ETF (daily tradable) and the illiquid nature of the underlying assets it aims to replicate. In periods of market turbulence, mass selling of the ETF could theoretically put pressure on the replication mechanism.
Goldman Sachs’ Strategy and Context
The launch is part of Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s strategy to expand access to differentiated investment strategies. The company, which currently manages 69 ETF strategies globally, recently strengthened its platform with the agreement to acquire Innovator Capital Management, a pioneer of defined outcome ETFs in the United States. This operation, once completed, will position Goldman Sachs among the top ten global active ETF providers.
GSPE represents an attempt to meet retail and institutional investors’ demand for private equity exposure, bypassing the high minimum capital requirements and long lock-up periods typical of direct investments. Its performance will depend on the MSCI methodology’s ability to effectively and persistently capture the return factors of private equity through the public equity market.
Source: ETFWorld.co.uk
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