State Street Corp. agrees to buy Goldman Sachs unit for $550m

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

State Street Corp., a financial services company headquartered in Boston, said Tuesday that it has agreed to pay $550 million to buy Goldman Sachs Administration Services as it looks to become the leading global administrator of hedge funds.

A global service provider to hedge funds, Goldman Sachs Administration Services, or GSAS, administers about $200 billion in single manager hedge fund assets on behalf of approximately 150 investment manager clients. The transaction does not include Goldman Sachs’ Prime Brokerage business, State Street said in a press release.

“The acquisition will strengthen State Street’s global leadership in hedge fund administration and will establish the company as the No. 1 hedge fund administrator globally based on industry survey data,” State Street said in the release. “State Street today is the No.1 servicer of alternative assets in the world with $877 billion under administration at June 30, 2012.”

Pending regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to be finalized early in the fourth quarter, the company added.