Goldman Sachs acquiring NEOS Investments ETF provider for $2.25B

Goldman Sachs acquiring NEOS Investments ETF provider for $2.25B

Wed, August 12, 2026 at 5:07 PM GMT+3 2 min read

• GS +1.41%

Goldman Sachs announced an agreement to acquire NEOS Investments, a provider of options-based income exchange-traded funds, in a deal worth up to $2.25 billion in cash and equity, the company said on Wednesday.

Founded in 2022 and based in Westport, Connecticut, NEOS manages $30 billion in assets across 19 options-based income ETFs, according to Goldman Sachs. The acquisition will bring Goldman Sachs Asset Management's total ETF assets to approximately $130 billion and position it as a top-eight active ETF manager, the company said.

The transaction consideration is subject to the achievement of certain performance and service commitments, Goldman Sachs said. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, pending regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.

Once the transaction closes, NEOS co-founders Troy Cates and Garrett Paolella are set to take on partner roles at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The broader NEOS workforce, spanning investment and client service functions, is likewise anticipated to transfer to the firm.

"As investor demand for active ETFs grows, NEOS' disciplined investment approach is highly complementary to our capabilities across buffer, managed outcome and income strategies," Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO David Solomon said in a statement.

Marc Nachmann, who oversees Goldman's asset management business, said the firm sees significant room to grow. Nachmann pointed to the broader opportunity in a conversation with Bloomberg, describing active ETFs as "a fast growing space in the asset-management business."

Industry-wide, derivative income ETFs have grown to approximately $180 billion in assets under management and have posted a compound annual growth rate of more than 70% since 2021, according to Morningstar data cited by Goldman Sachs.

The NEOS acquisition comes roughly a year after Goldman paid $2 billion for Innovator Capital Management, which specializes in defined-outcome ETFs, according to Bloomberg. Together, the two acquisitions and Goldman Sachs Asset Management's existing business form what the firm described as a broad options-based ETF franchise.

Goldman's asset and wealth management division, which reported $4.04 trillion in assets under supervision at the end of the second quarter, posted $4.60 billion in revenue for the quarter, reflecting a year-over-year gain of 20%. Goldman Sachs oversees approximately $4 trillion in assets under supervision as of June 30, 2026, the company said.

Goldman Sachs Global Banking & Markets served as financial advisor on the deal, with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP acting as legal counsel. Barclays served as exclusive financial advisor to NEOS, and Ropes & Gray LLP served as NEOS's legal counsel, Goldman Sachs said.