Overview
- Goldman announced the agreement on Wednesday to acquire NEOS for up to $2.25 billion in cash and equity and to add about $30 billion in assets across 19 ETFs to its platform.
- The transaction is set to lift Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s ETF assets to roughly $130 billion and would make the firm one of the top active ETF managers if it closes in Q1 2027.
- NEOS’ lineup includes crypto income funds such as BTCI, XBCI and NEHI that use covered‑call overlays to generate monthly distributions by selling call options against spot ETP holdings.
- NEOS co‑founders Troy Cates and Garrett Paolella are expected to join Goldman as partners and most NEOS investment and client‑service staff are slated to transfer to Goldman after closing.
- Goldman frames the purchase as a fast way to scale in the rapidly growing derivative‑income ETF market, which Morningstar data cited in the filings values at about $180 billion and shows rapid annual growth since 2021.