Goldman Sachs Closes GS Loan Partners I With $10.5 Billion

New York, October 8, 2008 -- The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) today announced it has closed GS Loan Partners I with $10.5 billion in equity and leverage commitments, including more than $1 billion of equity from the firm and its employees. This is the first senior debt fund of its kind raised by Goldman Sachs and the 15th fund formed by the firm’s Principal Investment Area (PIA) since 1986.

The fund seeks to generate current income as well as long-term capital appreciation through senior secured loan investments. Its primary focus will be providing senior secured loans to finance leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations and acquisitions for leveraged buyout firms and other corporate issuers. Investments in high-quality companies together with the seniority and collateral of the loans should provide GS Loan Partners with a strong position in the capital structure and an attractive risk profile for these investments.

“GS Loan Partners is a natural extension of PIA’s business, in particular our GS Mezzanine Partners business where we have been a global market leader in providing subordinated debt since 1996,” said Richard A. Friedman, Head of the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs. “With our well established investment platform and the fund’s sizeable capital base, we are seeing attractive investment opportunities.”

“The current environment of constrained balance sheets and declining new leveraged loan issuance has created significant opportunities for GS Loan Partners,” said Thomas G. Connolly, Managing Director with global responsibilities for GS Loan Partners. “Our unique ability to provide senior debt issuers with commitments in size on known terms and with certainty of financing should allow us to provide our investors with attractive, risk-adjusted returns.”

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a bank holding company and a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world. Established in 1986, the firm’s Principal Investment Area is part of the Merchant Banking Division and includes the GS Capital Partners, GS Loan Partners and GS Mezzanine Partners funds. To date, the Principal Investment Area has raised 15 funds aggregating more than $82 billion of capital and leverage commitments. With a global team of approximately 140 investment professionals, Goldman Sachs’ Principal Investment Area has expertise in a wide variety of industries and regions. GS Loan Partners I is Goldman Sachs’ first fund dedicated to providing senior secured loans and investing in senior debt.

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