If you want to join the new financial elite and become a hedge fund manager then a spell at the investment bank Goldman Sachs will give you ...

If you want to join the new financial elite and become a hedge fund manager then a spell at the investment bank Goldman Sachs will give you the knowledge and contacts needed to compete in this increasingly desirable part of the financial services sector. A disproportionate number of hedge fund managers—or at least the most successful managers—are former Goldman employees, according to research by The New York Times. The Times says that the growing pool of Goldman hedge fund managers is one of the more powerful networks on Wall Street. Over the last decade, funds started by former Goldman employees have attracted $100 billion in assets, estimates one former managing director at the firm. That is 10 per cent of the $1 trillion managed by hedge funds today. Goldman’s has close links with the hedge fund world not just through its former employees, but also invests in many funds. Its stock-trading desk also handles the buy and sell orders for some of the largest new hedge funds, and also provides back-office services, like clearing and settling trades after they occur. The latest member of the Goldman Sachs alumni club is Dinakar Singh, who quit Goldman last July before raising $2.8 billion for his new fund, TPG Axon, which was launched this week. Another recent launch from an ex-Goldman banker was Eton Park; set up by Eric Mindich, the youngest Goldman partner ever at the age of 27. Eton Park raised more than $3 billion last November, the largest start-up in hedge fund history. Other ex-Goldman bankers to have struck it lucky in the hedge fund world include Steven Mandia, who joined Halcyon Asset Management to raise a $500 million hedge fund. David Tepper and Edward Lampert, also ex Goldman, earned millions managing hedge funds after they left the Wall Street firm.