Goldman Sachs, Phoenix Financial partner; Phoenix to deploy more than $4bn

Phoenix Financial plans to deploy more than $4bn (£3bn) across global private credit under a strategic partnership with Goldman Sachs, Alternative Credit Investor reported. The Israeli asset manager will deploy client and corporate assets through the arrangement.

The firms will collaborate on investments across corporate credit, asset-backed finance, real estate and infrastructure debt. Phoenix gains access to Goldman Sachs Alternatives' global investment capabilities in private investment-grade credit, senior direct lending and opportunistic credit strategies.

Goldman Sachs Alternatives' private credit platform managed approximately $230bn in assets as of 30 June 2026, including direct lending and asset-based lending. Phoenix oversees more than $220bn in assets under management and has been expanding international investment activity through partnerships with global asset managers, so the mandate fits a structure Phoenix has used before rather than a new business line. The announcement frames what Phoenix is buying as origination and credit selection rather than a lending team of its own.

"Goldman Sachs has invested in private credit for 30 years, expanding our platform as private credit became a capital engine for the global economy," said David Solomon, chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs. "Phoenix clients will now access attractive investment opportunities through our differentiated origination and credit selection capabilities."

The firms said they will also explore further collaboration opportunities across investment, savings and insurance products — territory beyond credit deployment, and framed in the announcement as exploratory.

The two balance sheets are close in size. Goldman Sachs Alternatives' private credit platform, at approximately $230bn as of 30 June 2026, and Phoenix's more than $220bn of assets under management differ by a margin narrower than the deployment Phoenix has just committed. The scale question in the deal therefore sits with origination: the platform's sourcing and underwriting is what Phoenix is paying to reach, and client and corporate assets are what it is bringing.

Phoenix's stated reason for partnering tracks what it has done with other global managers. What the announcement does not say is how the $4bn-plus will be split across the four debt categories, over what period it will be invested, or in what vehicles it will sit.

Read across to the asset-backed finance leg in particular: Goldman Sachs Alternatives' platform count includes asset-based lending, the same capability that has driven other managers into partnership structures this year.